Proud to be an American

So today is the 4th of July. Such a wonderful day. Today we remember all those who have done so much to give us this great country. I am so grateful for those who risked their lives so we can have the freedoms we usually take for granted. Grateful for that wonderful document that many men signed at risk of death stating that we can be free to worship how we may, free from oppression of governments, kings and principalities, free from so many things we don't even question because it's become such a part of our lives.

I am grateful for the opportunity to show and teach my son what a wonderful country we live in. How this is the promised land. What a blessing God has given us. I thank Him for it.

We started our Independence weekend yesterday. Our city had a car show last night and we went and looked at all the old cars and tractors. (only in a small town do the "classic car" shows include tractors). After we got home we had a little cool off session.
Joseph thinks playing with the hose is the coolest thing in the world. Even after he is shivering from the cold water, he still yells when I take him in the house.

Today I ran my second 5k. My time was 39:21. That's almost ten minutes faster than the last one. And my training has been atrocious lately. A big shout-out to my two boys who ran the last mile with me and pushed me to be my best. I sure love them.

After the race, the city had a breakfast and then a parade. It was fun to watch Joseph at the parade. He loved the fire trucks, horses and the ATVs (again, only in a small town).

One of the best parts of the parade is right behind this old firetruck (cool siren, I tell you what), was a truck with the flag. Everyone stopped and they sang the national anthem. It was so thrilling to see my little boy with his hand over his heart, even though he had no clue what was going on.

In a time when people think you are radical if you wear a shirt with a flag on it, or honor our founding fathers, call me a radical. I'll never change and I'll always love this country, what it stands for, and those who sacrificed so we can have what we have.

God Bless the USA!!!

Ah Spring?

So Spring started with a real bang. I think it was a thunderstorm. And it's been that way ever since. I keep wondering if we are going to have spring at all before summer comes this Sunday. Probably not.

A couple of weeks ago, Josh decided to give his lizard aquarium a good cleaning. He took out the lizard and all the plants, etc and gave it a thorough washing. Joseph wanted in on the fun so he took a turn pretending he was a lizard. He sure wants to be where his daddy is.
Speaking of where Daddy is...


A couple of weeks ago they had a classic car show in town. Joseph liked looking at the cars, but he liked pushing his stroller and pretending he was a big boy even better. I think he liked the cars because daddy liked the cars.
We finally got our shower wall painted. As you can see, Joseph did his share of painting. He acts so much like a big boy and copies everything he can. And of course, he is so proud of himself when he can do the same thing as Daddy (and sometimes Mommy).
Last week we went on a hike with Josh's sisters, a brother-in-law, and their kids. Joseph loved hiking. He thinks it's so cool to walk off through the forest. Of course, he follows his father everywhere he goes. And as he hikes he sings his favorite song "dad, dad, dad, dad" It goes on and on.
We stopped for a break, and a photo op. He was trying to find the dog (Melinda and Jake brought their dog on the hike). After Dad, the dog was his most favorite topic. And most favorite object to make sure he knew where it was. He loves dogs. He can hear a dog bark any where near by and he will be talking about dogs for an hour. He loves Clifford the big red dog.

Here's a stop for another photo opportunity. He sure had fun. He will be a hiking fool when he grows up. Just like his dad.And here is the whole family. Enjoying time together and getting our exercise.

Another fun note, this week the Disney Christmas Carol Train came to town. We went to see it and Joseph had fun. Looking at the lights, seeing the snow, and making friends with all the people. He flirted with all the girls and made himself adorable. Not that it takes a lot for that.

Pay It Forward...

So, here's how this game works-the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or be lazy and copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! I promise!

Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend was a busy one for us. The Haderlies (Josh's sister Charity and fam) came to town. We spent the whole weekend doing family stuff. Thursday we went to Temple Square. It was Joseph's first time and he had a blast.

He loved looking at the statues. I don't think he quite got the fact that he is named after this man. But he sure did love looking at it.

I love this photo with Joseph pointing to the Christus. He loves to look at pictures (or statues) of Jesus and always lets us know who it is. ("jeezz" he says).

He loved Temple Square. He loved the fountains (and there are so many of them), he loved the flowers (ditto) and he loved being with his cousins. His Haderlie cousins love him to death. They always wanted to be holding his hand. And he hated that. But he loved having so many people pay attention to him. He loved hanging out with his aunts, and he loved walking all over. He actually walked around most of the top of the Conference Center. I kept waiting for him to reach his limit, but he kept on going. My little trouper.

Saturday we had a BBQ with the whole family (most of them). Joseph had fun playing with Grandpa Mike and became his little shadow.

It's real funny to watch because he actually gets a little jealous of his other cousins when Grandpa pays attention to them.

Sunday there was a baby blessing and then Monday we had a breakfast.

He finally did crash, but not until after going on his first hike (sorry no pictures, the camera died).

All in all, we had a fun weekend. It was so fun to see the energy that this little boy has. Hopefully some of it can rub off on his mommy and daddy.

Happy Mother's Day

So our Mother's Day Weekend was very full. Just like Joseph's mouth. He loves to put as much food as possible in his mouth. Here he is with a mouth full of pears. He thought this was great fun.

Saturday was my 5K. I was really excited and quite nervous. Joseph made sure we didn't oversleep. He kept me up until about midnight and woke up at 5:30 in the morning.

The run was at the Ogden Nature Center. It was really nice because all the race was run on the nature trails so it was nice and soft.

Here I am getting ready, pinning on my number and timing chip. Let me tell you, whoever decided on a timing chip was a genius. It makes things so much easier. Everything is computerized. So much easier for timing.

Joseph was involved in the whole thing. He watched me get ready and stretch out. He thought it was so funny that Mommy was being so silly.



It was so nice to have my boys meet me near the finish line. They ran about the last 100 feet with me. I can't believe how well I did. I came in 10 minutes faster than my fastest practice time. 48:29. I know that's not super fast, but that's great for me. The next 5K I run I hope to be in the low 40's.


The thing I liked about this race, was it was a fun run. After the 5K was over they had a pancake breakfast and a 100 feet run for the little kids. All the kids got a finisher's medal. Joseph thought it was great fun.

Joseph's favorite part was the fire hydrant. I swear, that kid can find them anywhere. He will be the front runner to the fire fighters, find the hydrants for them and get paid for it. Silly boy.





Here Joseph is sporting his medal. His favorite part of the medal is the rock glued to the front. He loves rocks. He's such a boy.




On Sunday, Josh and Joseph gave me such wonderful presents. Flowers and a balloon. Josh cooked both breakfast and dinner and let me take a nap. It was great. We decided Joseph is such a grown up boy now he can start shaving.
He just loves copying Daddy. Anything he sees Josh do, he is right there behind him to try it out.

I feel so blessed to have two such wonderful boys. They are truly blessings in my life. I know Heavenly Father gave them to me and I thank Him everyday for everything I have.

Run, baby, run!

So yesterday I signed up to run my first 5K. I'm excited to run. I ran in junior high school, but I was a sprinter. 4x100 and 4x200. Nothing really big. To run a 5K scares me to death. I'm scared to come in last or to not be able to finish, scare me. But I also know that if I don't try, there's no way I'll ever know if I can do it.

My sister in law Michelle ran a half marathon this month and she greatly inspired me. I don't know if I'll ever make it to the half marathon stage, but like I said before, If I don't try, I'll never know if I can do it.

The 5K is May 9th. I'm hoping I can get good enough to at least make a decent showing. And finish the run.

Wish me luck.

Happy Easter one and all

Okay, so I know Easter was last week. I'm a little behind on everything. Aren't I always?

So Easter started at our house Saturday morning when we took Joseph on an Easter egg hunt. We put eggs all around the back yard and he went searching for them. We really have a good yard for an egg hunt and he had fun "finding" the eggs in the trees and bushes and flowers. Unfortunately we have no pictures of that.

Saturday night I started making dinner for Easter. I made dessert and some rolls so I wouldn't have to cook again on Sunday. Of course, Joseph helped me with my pumpkin roll.

And he enjoyed it. A lot.

Sunday we went to church and Joseph sang with the ward choir during our Easter program. He really did a good job. He's starting to understand who Jesus is and that He loves us and we love Him.

He looked so good we took pictures of him in his Easter outfit next to the church. He was enjoying the sun so much he didn't want to hold still. We were very lucky to get these pictures.

After church we just couldn't let all that beautiful sun go to waste, so we sat out in the back yard and read.

We are grateful for Easter and the blessings we receive because of our Savior's sacrifice. How much we love Him and praise Him.

Where oh Where is Spring

So here it is, three days into spring and we've had a beautiful snow storm this morning. The last few days have been quite chilly. And I miss the sun.

It has been so nice to have the sun and now we get a storm. It was so fun to be outside with Joseph last week. He enjoyed the sun and the plants and the trees and the birds. He loves birds. He can hear a bird and find it before I've even realized there are birds around. He will watch them fly and try to catch them when they land. He also can tell you where all the fire hydrants are around our house. I don't know how he knows, but he does.

We've been working on the house and the yard lately. Unfortunately the people who lived here before we did didn't do anything in the yard. The back yard has a couple groupings of trees with flowers around them and a big area for a garden and compost area. The flower beds are covered with weeds. Most of them taller than Joseph. The trees (aspens) have little seedlings and some not so little seedlings all around them. There are some bulbs planted but I have pulled many of them out with all the raking for leaves and weeds. I'm hoping we can get this taken care of and have a lovely yard this year.

When we get some things done, I will put up some photos. I love having a big yard, I just wish I didn't have to be the one to take care of it.

Our life

So we have been feeling the economic squeeze lately. Luckily Joseph has been looking for a job to help out.
He tried out botany but he really doesn't know much about plants.
He looked at sunbathing, but he was just too cool and everyone wanted to stare at him. But not much money to be had.

He tried laughing and showing off his six teeth. But no one pays people much for that. At least not at our house.

He thought maybe he could save us money by taking water out of the hydrants. But he doesn't have the right tools and the water comes out too fast for him to utilize it.

He thought he could sell pictures of our family, but no one was interested.

Here he is taking a shower after a long day of being cute and looking for a job.


Finally he just decided to help around the house. He became a dishwasher and helps us stay happy and enjoy the little things.

For those who can't tell, this post was mainly an excuse to show cute pictures of Joseph. He is growing up so fast.

Yeah for spring

So I am so looking forward to spring. Joseph is loving going outside on the days when the sun is shining. He loves to watch the community chickens and play in the grass. We have rocks and gravel on our driveway, he loves to pick them up and put them in his mouth. Usually when he comes in the house we have to empty out his mouth.

He is growing so much. Josh is trying to teach him Spanish and he can point to most of his body when asked in English or Spanish. He has also learned to fold his arms and will do so when asked. Unfortunantly he only does it for a second or two and usually ends up yelling during the middle of the prayer when he thinks everyone has held still for long enough.

On another note, we got our cabinets finished and now the kitchen looks so much better. I don't have a picture of it, but I will add it soon. I hope that we can get more of our house finished within the next few months. It will be so nice to have Joseph sleep in his own room. He is a noisy sleeper.

Hopefully I can get some pictures up soon. I keep forgetting to download them. I just hope Spring sticks around for a long time.

Happy Birthday Joseph

February 19 was Joseph's first birthday. We had a party for all of his cousins, aunts, uncles and the two grandparents who are in this country. Here are some pictures from the big day.

Here is Joseph in the snow doing his favorite snow activity: eating the snow.



And here is Joseph getting ready to open his birthday presents. He really enjoys his presents. He actually opened most of them. Unlike Christmas.



Here is a video of Joseph being sung to and his birthday cake. I forgot you can't have candles in church until the party started. Don't worry though. We didn't light it.



Here he is enjoying his cake. He ate the frosting off and then, once he was handed a fork, he started eating the cake. He really had fun.



One of Joseph's favorite parts of his party were his balloons. He walked home with Josh and his balloons while I took everything else home. He did not want to come home, he just wanted to play with those balloons all day.

Happy New Year

So I have been really busy this past month. Christmas will do that to you. I have been baking and wrapping and traveling to family parties and trying to relax every chance I could. Here are some pictures of our experiences the last month or so.
This is Joseph smiling at the camera. One of his favorite past times.



Here he is taking a shower with daddy. He loves to play in the shower. He tries to catch the water and laughs when it gets on his face.


Here he is getting ready to see Santa for the first time. He had fun eating all the food and playing on the floor. He is walking like crazy.



Here he is on Santa's lap. Surrounded by his Brown cousins. He did pretty well with the whole Santa thing. He didn't cry, he just looked at Santa as if to say: "who are you and why am I here?"

Here he is marking off the first six months of my Parents mission. There is a link for every week until they get home. He sure has changed these last six months.


Here is my tree skirt that I worked on this year. I finally got it done. Wahoo. I have been cross-stitching it for a long time. But it is done and hopefully next year we can put it under the tree.

This is Joseph showing how excited he is to get a picture of Grandma and Grandpa Brown for Christmas.

And this is his first time to play in the snow. He really had fun. He mostly just sat and ate any snowflake that hit his face and also ate the snow that he was tired of playing with.



Here is Christmas Eve. Meeting his new cousin Jace. They live in California and came here for the holidays. Jace was blessed the Sunday before Christmas and then we got to hang out with them on Christmas Eve and New Years Day. Joseph is getting tired and doesn't want to be around a baby. But he loves his new cousin. He is very curious about babies, even though he doesn't see them very often. And here he is on Christmas, trying to decide if Mommy and Daddy really will let him rip the paper on the presents.
He really had a lot of fun for Christmas. He loves his new toys and the wrapping paper and boxes they came in. He is growing up so fast and we will be celebrating his first birthday in less than seven weeks.

Josh and I had a good Christmas. Josh got a new job just before Thanksgiving, so we have been paying off some bills. He works from home so we get to spend a lot of time together as a family. Now we just need to get those pesky bills payed off (Joseph's surgery) and we can work on fixing up the house so Joseph can finally have his own room.

Happy New Year everyone.