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.

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.

Valentines Day

The weekend before Valentines Day we had to get some new tires on Ben's pickup. So we needed to do that in Idaho. My niece went down on Friday and took the girls home with her, so Ben and I had a little time to ourselves! :) Ok Ben's in tax season so not really and I cleaned the house all day on Friday. P-A-R-T-Y. We did go out and have an amazing dinner at Texas Road House, which is in my top 10. On Saturday Ben when to work and I got ready to head to Idaho as soon as he got home. Thanks Lyndsie for taking them home with you!


On Monday we got Bailey a movie and Hinkley some toys, they each got a little toy from Todd and Brenda and a BOX full of goodies from my sister. Wendy likes to spoil the kids. She also sent a couple boxes to Idaho too! We had candy, pencils, hair bows and bands, towels, note bookes, toys, straws, candy, and I think some candy! Thanks Aunt Wendy for being so sweet and sending the package! Thanks Brenda for the braking talking puppies too. The girls are so lucky to have aunts, uncles and cousins who spoil and help take care of them!

Bailey also had a party at preschool and we went to the neighborhood Valentines party, so we have a ton of candy if any of you have a shortage we'd be more than happy to share!

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.

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.

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

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!

Family Time!

A couple weeks ago my brother Scott blessed his baby, Slater. Slater was born a month after Hinkley and is such a cute little boy. We wanted to be there for the blessing and so we headed back to Idaho. We spent the first night at my brother Todd's house, we had to drop off the dogs and by the time we got there I had spent enough time in the car. My sister-in-law Brenda had made the girls the cutest skirts, hair accessories and bought them onezies to match. Thanks Brenda!

On Saturday my brother-in-law, Dave, ran, swam, and biked the Spud Man. Congratulations Dave for finishing the Spud Man! After he was done we all had an amazing breakfast at Todd's then we loaded up the girls and headed on to my brother Eric's house.


We hung out for awhile there and than we all got ready and went swimming. Wendy and her family were staying with Scott and they all came swimming too. Bailey was a little nervous about the water, but after awhile she was pushing Ben away. Thanks Yvonne for those amazing floaties!

On Sunday Scott blessed Slater and did a great job. All five of us were there and it was hard not to miss my parents when we are all together! After the blessing we went to Scott's house for an amazing luncheon. Sommers and Scott had worked hard to make it really nice. Mom called to say hello to everyone while we were together and it was great to hear from her.


We tried to leave soon after we ate and I was SO not looking forward to the 5 1/2 hour drive back to Logan. We had to stop midway and pick up the dogs and Todd and Brenda fed us and sent us on our way. It was a great weekend, I loved being with everyone and I loved getting out of the car after that long drive!

The Browns VS The Yard

So when we bought our old house 4 years ago we had to do all the landscaping, which we did. It wasn't easy, fun, or cheap! So afterwards Ben promised me that if we ever moved (because he told me that we were going to be in the last house for at least 10 years, and we weren't even in it 4) and the landscaping had to be done that we were going to pay to have it ALL done. Well he lied! This is a picture of what we had to deal with. The dirt was pushed back the legal amount from the house and we had to do the rest. We were told we would need a 7 foot retaining wall! If my kids were to fall off of that they would seriously injure themselves. We weren't told about our landscaping issues until the house was well underway so all we could do was deal with it!


In March my brother Todd came down with a semi hauling a loader to move dirt around to see what he could do for us. Thank heavens for Todd and that he loves my kids. He wasn't happy with the landscaping issue and knew that it wasn't kid friendly. He spent two days leveling and moving dirt and when he was done we only had to have a 3 foot retaining wall! He saved us a ton of money and I'm sure several trips to the ER.


So since we moved in, at the begining of May, we have been dealing with a LOT of dirt! We have worked with landscape people designing plans for sprinkler systems, curbing, fences, top soil, sod, and everything else that goes with a yard. For Memorial day we had some of Ben's family here helping to install the sprinkler system, which we later learned had been designed wrong! The guy had measured the yard wrong which totally screwed up everything! He admitted he had done it wrong, but said he didn't have time to fix it and we were basically on our own!


Ben worked on the yard constanly! We had a ton of help from our neighbors, especially Tyler. Tyler helped Ben in our yard every night even nights when Ben worked late Tyler came over and worked with out Ben even being here! We really appreciate Tyler paying a landscape company to do ALL of his yard so he could help us with ours!


So two weekends ago we were finally to the point of laying sod! Yea for us! So we called all of our family and anyone who was silly enough to say that they would help us. Ben had his older brother Daniel here with two of his boys, his brother Jacob, sister Suzy, and his sister Kat, to watch our girls. Ben learned from Tyler's landscape guy that we would need to install a pump to boost our water pressue that would cost us over $1000! So we bought one here and had Jacob install it and saved us a ton of money. Thanks Jacob. Jacob also worked on the sprinklers to make sure that all the grass would get water and so by the time we were done he was soaking wet!


I called my nephew Jason, who offered to help. He ended up coming from Sandy with my sister Wendy, her husband, Jason's wife, my nephew Logan, and my neice Lexie, who also helped watch the girls. It was a party! We laid over 13 thousand square feet of sod and were done before noon. We were a little short so we ordered some more and finished the sod last week.

A huge thank you to everyone! We couldn't have done it with out all of your help. I thought the sod would take us all day. Thanks again it took almost 3 months but we finally won the war against the yard!

The 4th

The week between my parents farewell and the 4th of July the girls and I stayed in Burley. We helped my parents get ready to go and just hung out. Then on Friday my brother Scott and his family came to Burley to hang out and see some of Sommers' family that was coming into town.

Bailey and Shaydon of course had a ton of fun together! They played, fought, wrestled, bathed, ate, went to the farm, saw baby cows, and kept Grandpa very busy! They are 4 months apart, but in this picture Shaydon insisted on holding Bailey. I found them in the hall and Shaydon was trying to pick her up, we decided it was safer if he held her on the couch!


On the 3rd my brother Todd got out his boat and offered to take the kids for a ride. Bailey has only ever been on Uncle Todd's boat and had a great time. She and Shaydon of course had a little issue over who got to help Uncle Todd drive so Todd got them both on his lap to help him. The babies slept most of time we were on our ride. It was kind of a cold day that's why we aren't in our swim suites.


Afterwards Todd and Brenda invited us all back to have a bbq and to watch some fireworks. Bailey had never really seen any fireworks, we always put her to bed before they started. She thought they were pretty and knew that they were hot so she tried to blow them out like a candle when she saw them in the sky. We had a great time, the food was great and I loved being with everyone. I especailly loved when Bailey got Uncle Todd to jump on the tramp with her.

We had a great weekend and I loved spending time with family and having the girls spend time with Scott, Sommers and thier boys. This is all four of the babies from my family. Bailey wasn't to thrilled to sit and play nice while we took the pictures if you can't tell. Gotta love those terrible two's!

A Blessing & A Farewell

My parents got their mission call to Frankfurt Germany and had their farewell on June 27th. It has been hard to think of them gone for that long and to see them get ready to go. I know that I was gone for 18 months on my own mission but that was me leaving them not them leaving me. They both did a great job on their talks of course. Dad talked on temples and mom talked on prayer. We had a lot of friends and family show up to support them which is always great to know that so many people care about your family. We had the luncheon at my brother Todd's house, one less thing for my mom to worry about. We had so much fun and great food! The food was so good and we were all so full, but couldn't stop eating. Thank you to everyone who came to support my parents and who helped with the food.


Because my family would all be together that Sunday we made arrangements to bless Hinkley that same day in their ward. Ben did an amazing job and it was great to have all my brothers and brother in laws there to bless her. She was an angel and didn't cry once. Like Bailey she was blessed with her plug in her mouth! Hinkley's did fall out but she still didn't cry! Thanks Lou for letting me borrow your shirt and for taking the picture.


It was also the first time that we had all been together since Hinkley was born so she got to meet a lot of the family for the first time. Everyone is so cute with her and the girls had so much fun being with family. Hinkley and Slater are only a month apart. Slater is as long or longer than Hinkley but Hinkley is more chubby!


My brother Eric's kids are so cute with Bailey and Shaydon! They play with them and love to be with them which is so awesome since they are older. Lily is especailly cute with Bailey and will be her closest girl cousin, Lily is about 3 years older than Bailey but is a great cousin and friend and I really hope that they will always have fun together.


We are kind of worried about how Bailey will handle going to Papa and Grammy's for the first time and find that they are not there. Bailey worships her Papa and can get him to play dolls, kitchen, cars, horsey and about anything else she can think of. I also feel bad that Hinkley won't have that relationship with my parents, but they won't be gone forever. Its really hard not to be selfish and not want my parents to go. I know what they are doing is important and way, way, WAY, deep down some where I am excited for them to be going on this adventure and know that they will love it. We will miss you Mom and Dad, a.k.a Papa and Grammy

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.