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.

Christmas '10

It was our year to be with Ben's family for Christmas this year, so we headed back to Idaho on the 23rd and was there until the 26th. We stayed with my brother Todd and his family because there just isn't enough room for all of us at Ben's mom's house.


Of course Ben had to get in a little sports with his family so on Christmas Eve he went and played basketball and than after the game we all went over for the Big Brown Party. We start out with a big amazing meal, we clean up and then the kids get ready to go. All the little kids get in about 10 cars because of all the car seats, than they sing carols, look at lights, and go see if they can find Santa. It was Bailey's first year going and she loved it. I stayed with Hinkley at the house to feed her face before the party really got going.


The kids are gone for about 20 to 30 minutes and when they come back Santa has magically come while they were gone! Its crazy but true and it happens every year. So we had a great time, Ben's little brother proposed to his girlfriend, everyone got spoiled, and its so awesome to just be together. Ben's mom got the girls the coolest bouncy horse. It holds about 300lbs so the uncles thought it would be fun to race them too, it was so funny.


We saved 3 gifts for the girls for Christmas morning just to have a little fun with them and my family the next day. Bailey had to play Santa and she was such a good helper, helping everyone open their presents! We had our traditional Christmas breakfast at Todd's, still amazaing after all these years! We were able to Skype with my parents, always good to talk to them. We had a great Chritmas holiday and it was great to be with family.

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.

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

Than they were gone...

Two weeks ago we had my mom's family reunion in Heber and Scott, Sommers and the Boys drove down to come to it. They made it to Logan on Thursday night at midnight. They put the boys to bed and we talked for a little bit and got up to play the next day. Bailey and Shaydon had fun playing, fighting and being together and the babies were good. We hung around the house for the morning and than went to Gossners. Sommers likes to go there and Scott likes to get the squeaky cheese. After that we took the kids to McDonald's for a gourmet lunch! We played there for awhile and than they took off. It was great to have them here and now Scott is on Bailey's top 10 favorite people list. She calls him "My Scott." We loved seeing them and hope they can come back soon!

On my way back from McDonald's I got a call from Ben's mom and they were just about to Logan. We had invited them to stay with us Friday night and they were almost here! Ben's brother Daniel was having the two boys they adopted sealed to them in Ogden on Saturday morning. Ann, Grandma Snow, and Kat did some shopping while the girls napped. Then we were all supposed to meet in town for dinner. Ben was working on the yard and helping our neighbors lay their sod so just the girls and I went. We had a great dinner at Olive Garden and than came back and chatted. I put the girls to bed and went and helped a little with the laying of the sod while Grandma and Ann napped and Kat watched a movie and listened for the girls monitors. After that Kat and I went to get everyone a treat and we talked and hung out for awhile.


The next morning everyone got up and ready to go. Ann, Grandma, and Kat headed for Ogden, Ben went to lay sod again and I got the girls ready to go to the reunion. My parents were able to leave the MTC to come to the reunion to see everyone and say goodbye. It was great to see the extended family and spend some time with my parents. Bailey and Shaydon were so cute when they saw my dad. They saw him at the same time because they are hardly apart they both yelled "Papa" and ran to him and didn't let go until we left the reunion.


After the reunion we headed to my sisters house. She only lives about an hour away and it gave us more time to be with mom and dad. They and Scott all stayed with her Saturday night. We talked, had supper and than around 10 pm Ben and I decided it was time to head home. It was really hard to say goodbye. Of course the girls didn't know what was going on and it was probably better that way. I didn't have my camera So these pictures are from my niece Lexie. We will really miss you mom and dad and our so proud of you for going when it isn't easy to say goodbye and leave your grand kids.

Growing too fast!

Hinkley turned 2 months old this week! She is growing way too fast. She is a great sleeper at night and loves to be held and snuggled when she sleeps during the day, which makes it hard to get anything done but what can you do! She smiles a lot which I love and is starting to talk to us more and more. She has the cutest personality. At her two month check up we were told that she is healthy and doing great! She already weighs 11 lbs and we can't imagine our lives without her!


Bailey has done amazing with her she hasn't been upset with Hinkley once! She also is such a big help from bathing, getting clothes, putting back in and finding her pacifier, holding her, and trying to play with and feed her! Hinkley also adores Bailey she can just sit and watch her big sister for a long time! I love to watch the two of them together! Bailey is still very protective of Hinkley and when anyone gets to close to the baby that Bailey isn't comfortable with she lets them know that Hinkley is off limits. Bailey had a hard time at Hinkley's 2 month appointment and did not apprectiate the nurses and doctors looking at her at all!

I know its a little late, but this month we celebrated my dads birthday and fathers day. I was blessed to be adopted by such great parents. My dad has always worked hard to support our family and has been a great man. He spent the past 18 years in the stake presidency, more than half of my life, which showed his love and dedication to the gospel. He has always been such a great example to me and I don't know how I will get along without him for the next 18 months!


And Ben, he is a great father who also works hard to support us. He loves his daughters and they have him wrapped around their fingers and can get away with anything. I love to watch him dance with Bailey, read to her, feed her, and she loves him. I love to watch him hold Hinkley, kiss her goodbye every morning, and tell her how beautiful she is. He is such a softy!

I feel blessed to have known my father-in-law and can only pray that he approves of me marrying one of his sons. Don was an amazing man, who had a hard childhood but was determined to make a good life for himself and his family. He wasn't afraid to be himself and I hope my daughters will get that from him too. Don worked hard and played hard. Thanks to Don and Ann for raising the amazing man I married.


My parents are getting closer to going on their mission which is really hard but everyone keeps telling me how fast 18 months will go by. Ben told me just to think of it as they will only be gone for 1 tax season!

Moving!

Well this last weekend we moved out of our first house! Kind of emotional, but I am also 9 months pregnant, we had shipped Bailey and Obi to Idaho with my parents so it could have been a lot of different things. Ben's mom Ann came up with two of his little brothers and little sister. I can't tell you how much help that they were we couldn't have done it without them! Ben has an amazing mom who always helps us, I feel bad because she doesn't come to visit often, but when we need help she is always there for us. We also had some awesome friends who showed up to help. Tyler, Jake, and Patrick all guys who Ben works with. Thanks for taking time off from work to help.


So our old house is sold, we closed on Friday, moved on Saturday and the funding went through on Monday so here we are renting again. I also realized Wednesday night that the drawer under the oven/stove still had pans in it! So we called the realtor and made arrangements for the guy who owns our house now to just leave my pans outside on the door step. That was a little weird picking up my pans from my old front step!

We are in Scary house and I'm still not happy about it, but I'm just trying to accept the things I can't change and that is about the best I can do and try to keep Bailey in a clean little bubble until we move!


Our new house is moving along, it just will never be fast enough. But they are texturing and mudding the walls, dry wall is hung, wiring is done, and they have started to hang siding. I am way excited for the house to be done, not just because I will get to leave scary house, but we won't have to move for a very long time, its nice to be able to have some say as to the lay out of your house, and it will be perfect for us in so many ways.


As for me and the baby we are doing well, besides living in scary house, I have started to dilate and efface, but I'm not holding my breath it will be a lot less stressing if she can stay put until after tax season. This is one of the only pictures of my pregnancy with #2 I think including this one there are 3 all together. I am HUGE!

To all my fellow tax season wives -Cara and Tiffany- we have almost made it! Only 13 days left! Yea for us now after the 15th we can have husbands and our children will have fathers!

We're alive, but we're dead!

Ok, so here we go playing catch up for the last month.

My sister in law (Lyndsie's) mom came to visit for a weekend. We had a great time! The girls went shopping, out to eat, watched movies, hung out, laughed, talked, and spoiled Bailey. Brenda and Lyndsie don't ever tell her no! And Ben worked - Love tax season!


The week after that Bailey came down with a cold. She started coughing Tuesday night and by Wednesday morning it sounded like croup. By Thursday I had caught her cold and by that weekend so had Ben. That Wednesday Ben's little brother Nathan came home from his mission. We headed to Idaho Saturday spent very little time with his family because we were all sick and Bailey was getting worse. We didn't spend a lot of time with my parents because they were watching my brothers 3 kids and no one wanted to get them sick. So we stayed at my brother Todd's. Saturday night Bailey had stopped eating and had a fever. By Sunday morning she was worse! Her cough was bad, her fever was higher and she would wake up for only about an hour and want to go back to sleep. We left her with Brenda while we went to Nathan's homecoming and took off for home after that.


I got her into the Dr's office Monday morning and they told me she had her 1st ear infection. Poor little monkey, so we got her some medicine and did a lot of cuddling and moving watching. On Wednesday I was having enough problems breathing from the cold and being pregnant that they wanted to have my lungs checked so I went back to the Dr's. Thank goodness for Lyndsie who came to watch Bailey. By Friday Bailey was starting to improve still not eating normally and clingy. But things got worse. I woke up Friday morning at 2:30am with a horrible ear infection. I was done getting sleep that night! I called my mom in tears and she headed down and Ben came home while I went to the Dr. again and got medicine for my ear. Mom stayed until Sunday and took Bailey home with her. I had a pregnancy appointment Monday morning and took off that afternoon to Idaho. So in the words of Dash from the Incredibles "we're alive, but we're dead."

We stayed with my parents until Thursday and came back to a house full of Boys! There was a USU game on and Ben had invited a few friends over. We also had some old friends from Burley staying at our house that week, but they left on Friday.


On Saturday Todd and Brenda came up. We have had some serious issues with landscaping at the house we are building. So my amazing big brother drove down with one of our farms semi's hauling a loader and spent 2 days moving dirt around. It is so much better than it was and it looks great. I can never thank Todd enough. We also had Ben's little brother Jacob come down for the night, he needed Ben's help. We had a fun, but busy weekend!


This last week we are all healthier and doing well. We have had a lot of stress finding a decent place that would rent to us for 2 to 3 months! So we are renting a scary house in Smithfield and are planning on closing on our old house this Friday and moving out this weekend. Brenda brought Lyndsie back yesterday after USU's spring break. I'm so happy to have her back because if the baby decided to come in the middle of the night Lyndsie is on call to stay with Bailey so it always makes me nervous of what we would do when Lyndsie is out of town.


The baby and I are fine, I have started falling about once a week! Not really sure how I manage it, Ben says he's sorry I'm a clutz! Bailey keeps us busy and laughing! Ben is working hard at Tax season. Yea tax season! We are just praying that the baby will stay put till after the move and than until tax season is over. The new house is moving along, it is framed and mostly wired and they are hoping to start dry walling this week.

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?

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.