boys, parents & keith

Brown Boys - Keith(#2), Kevin(#1), Lynn(#3), Jeff(#4), Doug holding Karter (Jeff's son)
Keith (and his mullet - hee hee)
Linda & Doug

Jeff, Barbara & Karter

Karter
Barbara
Jeff, Barbara & Karter
Jeff

Lynn, Shauna & Charlee

Shauna
Charlee
Charlee
Lynn

it's good to be back

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been out of the office and I just returned today (Friday). I have posted quite a few pictures below. So please make sure you scroll down till you've last "read" on my blog.

The services for Grandma Shupe were good. Kevin's mom, Linda, had to do the Eulogy (sp?). She did a really good job. Kevin's brother Keith played a piano piece, which was beautiful. Kevin, Lynn & Jeff were paulbearers (sp?) - they helped carry the casket. I met alot of family that I have not ever seen/met before since marrying into the family almost 6.5 years ago. So that was nice. Sad that it takes a funeral to bring the family together.

Enjoy the pictures below. I'll try to post more pictures this afternoon.

Alec, Madison & Derek

Madison posing like a model
Model Madison Madison in front of the new pool table
Alec
Derek with a mohawk
Gangster Derek
Gangster Derek

First Day of School

Alec - 12 years old - first day of 7th grade
Derek - 5 years old (now 6) - First Day of 1st grade
Madison - 7 years old - First Day of 2nd grade

More Halloween

Alec, Madison & Derek Halloween 2006 (my sister Carolyn's Kids)
It's the Scooby Doo gang! Alec, Madison and some friends.

Sad day

Yesterday we got the news that Kevin's Grandma, Grandma Shupe, passed away. We are very sad that we do not have her here with us anymore, but now she is not in pain anymore. Last we saw (about a month ago) her she kept telling us how much pain she was in. It just broke my heart. Now she is free from the pain of this life and now with her loved ones that have pasted on before her. Kevin's dad called us this morning to let us know when her services are going to be held and told me that even though she couldn't really talk much on Weds night she was able to say "I love my family". Those are her last words. You will be missed SO MUCH by so many, but we know we will see you again one day. We love you Grandma Shupe.

both walking...

...but states away. Kevin & I went on a walk last night. It was nice tempurature, but the wind we are guessing was close to 18-20 miles per hour. But we just wanted out of the house, so we dealt with it. My mom called us while we were out on our walk and it turns out she was on a walk as well. But for her it was like 85+ degrees at 7pm and we were at about 50-55 degrees at 8pm. So we were trying to talk as i try to block the wind with my scarf, and i had to yell over the wind so she could hear me. It was pretty funny. Other than that it was a quiet night. I fell asleep pretty early in the bean bag chair. I'm not sure what all kevin did, other than do dishes and clean up the kitchen. Thanks love!

Today i have some errands to run down in Idaho Falls. It will be nice to go into "the big city". I just hope it's not raining alot. We have a 60% chance of rain today and 25-35 mph winds. FUN FUN! Atleast we are still supposed to be in the 60s today...what a heat wave! Though tomorrow we are back in the 40s all the way through next monday (so the news says).

My dad said it was like 102 in Redlands, CA yesterday. Boy am i glad we are out of our apartment in Alhambra, CA! It would have been HORRIBLE in there (we didn't have A/C). Though i do miss ALOT of people in CA, but i don't think i could live down there again...but i guess we should never say never.

Sam & Dallin

Natalie sent me new pictures of her boys. I have some of THE CUTEST nephews ever! Enjoy!

Sam

Sam helping Steve collect leaves in the backyard

Sam "holding" Dallin (who could out weigh him in a matter of months)

Dallin just being cute in the exersaucer thingy.

fun weekend

We had a pretty good weekend. We enjoyed a great dinner on saturday and had a fun time chatting and playing games with Alex & Taryn. They are a cute couple and i hope everything works out for them. We think Alex let us win though at Canasta, so we'll have to play again and make him play for real! lol. THANK YOU KEVIN for all the cleaning you did on Saturday. I think we did a great job of making the place look good! Not that its very "dirty" every other day of the year. lol.

Church was good. The boys did pretty well in class, though one was trying Kevin's patience a little bit. Thats what you get when he is the only child and is totally spoiled. Don't think i'm mean, because his mom said that exact same thing to me one day after primary. LOL.

Keychain

So, my sister Natalie is going to be a consultant (i think thats the word) for this company out of Prescott Valley, AZ. Check out their website it's pretty cool stuff. Here are pictures of the personalized keychains we ordered. You get to pick all the colors & lettering style you'd like. http://www.myherobag.com/

weekend plans

I spent some time last night & this morning putting away Halloween stuff & getting out Thanksgiving items. It's not that we have alot, i was just moving VERY slowly. lol. We are looking forward to the holidays being here and having ALL of the Brown family together for the holidays should be exciting & adventure-some.

I saw a commerical last night that Sears was having a big sale this weekend. I said to Kevin "lets go @ 6am and get some good deals". He laughed and said "you can go, but you just can't take your purse." LOL. Well that defeats the whole purpose. LOL.

We are having our friends, Taryn and her boyfriend Alex, over on Saturday night. We will have dinner & play some games/chit chat. Should be alot of fun. So i've got some cleaning up & wiping down to do tonight & tomorrow. Kevin wants me to make rolls for dinner tomorrow...so i'll need to do that tonight as well. So he will be helping quite a bit with the cleaning process...which he is very good at.

Sunday go to church, teach our sunbeam class & come home and vegg all afternoon. excellent.

It's supposed to rain i think pretty much all weekend. As long as it doesn't snow & stick, i'm fine.

Happy Friday Everyone!

more kids halloween

You can only post so many pictures before it starts to slow down on you. So here is a continuation of my friends Kids on halloween.

Stefani "bee", Jeremy "Army Guy", Staci "Piglet

Bailey "the mean witch"

Some friends

Here are some pictures i've gotten of some of my friends & their kids from Halloween. I did not dress up, Kevin & the people at his work did. Hopefully we'll get some of those pictures. I'm hoping my sisters will send me pics of their kids. So there might be more post with Halloween pics. Enjoy!

Lego's - Jake, Meg & Girls

Kambria the Monkey

Bryan, Eliza & Kambira

Brody the cutest Penguin Ever
Kate & Brody

Quiet Halloween

So, we ended up not having to hide at all from the kids. We didn't have ANY kids walking around our apartment complex trick-or-treating. Kind of sad, i'd like to have seen the kids all dressed up. I guess there is always next year.

We ate dinner. Kevin cleaned up. I finished working on his scarf and then i watched Harry Potter #4 - Goblet of Fire. Four was my favorite book, i wish there could have been a little more detail in the movie that was in the book, but they still did a really good job.

Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

So Kevin & I didn't buy any candy for the trick-or-treaters. I don't know if we will even have some. Seeing how it's supposed to be a toasty 7-11 degrees tonight! So we will just hide in the back or watch a movie with the lights out. LOL. I can't wait to see the pictures from my friends of their kids all dressed up! :)

Congrats!

It's a.....GIRL for Craig & Shalece! Congratulations!!! I am way excited for you guys! Tyson will make a great big brother to his little sister! :)

Rexburg Temple

So, here are some pictures i've taken of the Rexburg Idaho LDS Temple. It's coming along great! We can not wait to have it open for use this time next year.

Yellowstone cont.

Just a few more...here you go.

Yellowstone Pics

So, i said i would post some pics from our Yellowstone trip over Labor Day and i never have. So here are just a few pictures. Nothing too exciting. :)

wacky weather

This morning around 4pm I woke up to terrible winds blowing outside. I couldn't go back to sleep for what seemed like forever. Well apparently I went back to sleep because I was woken up by my alarm. I looked out side, like I do every morning and I noticed the ground was wet. I said "great another day of rain". Then when I went out to start my car warming up it looked a little foggy. I called Kevin over to the door and said "hey it looks like we might get some snow today". Well as I got down to my car, sure enough there were little white flakes stuck to the side of the car. Well by the time I got to work it was coming down quite a bit more. Well now outside it is COMPLETELY white out there. I love the thought & look of snow coming down. But I am not ready for it to stick. So hopefully this will all melt by this afternoon.

Maz baby # 3

YEAH I AM SOOOO EXCITED!!!!

Chris and Sarah are excited to announce that Baby #3 will be joining them on May 28, 2007. They have seen the ultrasound and so far so good. She is 9 weeks along, sick to her stomach every minute of the day, and completely happy to be a mommy again.

little quote

I have seen this little quote a few times these past few days. At first I didn't pay too close of attention to it, but I realized today how true it is now that we are all spread out everywhere. So I thought I'd share it with you all.

"Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them (or talk to them), but you always know that they are there."

I have been truly blessed by the friends I have. So I want to thank you for all your love & support you have showed me throughout the time we have known each other. I truly appreciate our friendship, even though I'm not the greatest at always keeping in touch.

Thank you!

Nachoooooo

Today Nacho Libre comes out on DVD. Kevin has been VERY excited waiting for this day and it's finally here. So at lunch time i think we'll run to the store and pick it up. Should be a fun night of watching the movie & extras.

Friends

Mark, Jenn, Jeremy, Staci & Stefani with their carved pumpkins.

My friend Michele stopped by my office yesterday for a few mins. We haven't seen eachother (in person) since i graduated in April 1999 from Ricks. It was great to see her again and meet her two little girls. They are adorable. Her almost 3 year old was being bribed that if she was good then they'd go to McDonalds. Well, i think she got her treat. She was a crack up. It's so good to see old friends.

Dance with Me!

Let us all do a happy dance of joy that i didn't have to attend the 4pm meeting today! YEAH!!! WOO HOO!!! I was so not looking forward to sitting there and being bored out of my mind!

HAPPY HAPPY DANCE!!! HAPPY HAPPY DANCE!!!

Catching Up

So I haven't posted for a few days, so I'm going to do some catching up.

Monday was a day FILLED with meetings. It wouldn't have been so bad if my morning meeting didn't last 3 hours! We actually had to walk out of it because my boss Steve need a ride back to the office to pick up his things for a class he teaches; and since Kathy was my ride back to the office...I had to go to. Darn. ; )

Tuesday was pretty uneventful. Had a meeting about the changes in our medical insurance for 2007. But it really doesn't effect me, so that is good. : )

Wednesday I had my follow up Doctors appt. I was BEYOND nervous about it. I haven't lost any weight, like the Dr & I wanted me to do. So I thought he was going to totally rip into me. But he was pleased that atleast I hadn't gained any. Especially with the meds he put me on, that luckily I have NO side effects to. WOO HOO! Kevin was so sweet, when I picked him up for lunch yesterday he had gotten me two roses just because. What a great husband I have!

Last night we went to our friend Ted's baseball game. It was a bit chilly to say the least. We brought our camping chairs to sit in for 2 reasons. One - It has a back that you can lean against. Two - It would be a little warmer than cement slabs. I TOTALLY layered to stay warm. I had a long sleeve shirt on, with a fleece pull over, my heavy winter coat (which has gotten a little snug), a thick fleece scarf, knit cap, gloves & ear muffs! Oh and I was sitting on one blanket and then had a second one on top of me. I should have taken a picture. Maybe I can to a remake of it tonight when I get home. LOL. It was like 35 degrees & windy. We came home & had some hot chocolate with Ted & Elise as we complained about all the BAD calls that were made against Ted's team. They lost by the way 7-6. They are now out of the tournament. It was single elemination.

Tonight I have a dinner meeting that I am preparing for. Gotta love being a party planner. Luckily I only have two other events before graduation stuff begins. So after tonight, just 5 more events till the beginning of 2007. YEAH!!!

HAPPY THURSDAY...It's almost FRIDAY! WOO HOO!!!!

Sunbeam Kaysen

I know i shouldn't have favorites in our little class of Sunbeams at church, but there is one that i just love to pieces! His name is Kaysen and he just cracks me up. Yesterday we were practicing for the Sacrament Program we will be doing next sunday and before we started Kaysen was saying that he knew his part and didn't need help. Well, when it was time for him to say it he was just standing there infront of the microphone not saying a thing. So i started to whisper Kaysen his part. He turns - looks at me - puts his small little hand in front of my face and says "i don't need your help i know my part" and then went on to say it just fine. Man did that make me laugh so hard. We started with 6 little boys went up to 7 and now we are down to 4 little boys in our class. I'll be sad when we get a new group of kids next year. :(

for the love of groceries

We went down to Idaho Falls to run a few errands last night and went grocery shopping at Winco. Its WONDERFUL!!! It's so much cheaper than the stores up here in Rexburg, great variety, and its open 24 hours!! So we finished our grocery shopping at 10:30 pm. So to say the least we are loaded up for a while on food. :)

http://www.wincofoods.com/

Derek is 6!

Wow, my nephew Derek is 6 today! Happy Birthday big guy! I hope you guys have fun at Disneyland today! I hope your mom will send me pictures finally! :)

Yummy Dinner Recipe

OK, i don't know what i got this recipe from but we tried it last night and it was great! Though i suggest getting 2 cans of cresent rolls instead of the one, which i'm glad i did, because the filling is alot for just 4 servings...i made 8.

Savory Chicken Crescent Squares
3 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons margarine, softened
2 cups diced, cooked chicken
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon minced onion
8 oz. pkg crescent rolls
1 tablespoon margarine, melted
3/4 cup seasoned croutons, crushed

Cream together cream cheese and 3 tablespoons margarine. Add chicken, salt, pepper, milk and onion and mix well. Separate crescent rolls into 4 rectangles. Press perforations firmly to seal. Spoon 1/2 cup meat mixture into center of each rectangle. Pull corners of dough to top and twist slightly. Seal edges. Arrange on cookie sheet. Brush tops with melted butter, and sprinkle with crouton crumbs. Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes.

Links

ok i must be really stupid, but i can not figure out how to put links on the side of my blog of my friend's blogs. Can someone help me out???

Rainy Monday

Woke up to more rain this morning. We had a nice little break of it yesterday while we were out at Kevin's family's place. I love the rain don't get me wrong, but it's just hard to not want to stay home. Out high today is only supposed to be 52 degrees. burrrrrrrr.

Congrats to Pete & Leah on their new baby girl Danika.

Congrats to Jenn & Mark on their new baby girl Stefani.

Both were born just a day a part. I can't believe so many of my friends have so many babies. We are falling way behind everyone. But oh well. Our time will come.

We had a good weekend visiting family. We mostly went out to see Kevin's Grandma Shupe. She isn't doing too well. She kept saying "this will probably be the last time we see eachother", etc... it was really sad. I tried not to cry but as i was hugging her on our way out the door i did cry a little. She sure does love her grandkids! She isn't remembering very well any more, and it really sad. Plus apparently she is in alot of pain most of the day and isn't really telling any one about it. I hope she gets better soon after her nasty fall, but who knows.

Rollerblading in the park

Yup that's right! I got out of work last night and it was just a beautiful evening and I didn't feel like being inside a gym. So I thought I'd go for a bike ride. Well our bikes are locked together and Kevin had his key with him at work, so I decided I would dust off my rollerblades and give them a spin around the park. It was fantastic! What a great work out. The little wooden bridges were a little scary to maneuver, so I changed my route to not have to go over them anymore. LOL. What a great work out! My legs were a little sore last night, but I loved it. If it's not raining tonight, I think I'll go do that again! The only reason I stopped a little early because thunder and lightening had started, and I didn't think it would be good to be out there anymore. I had been home about 30-45 mins and all of a sudden there was a MASSIVE downpour of rain and hail. It was awesome!! Everyone just came out of their apartments to look at what was happening. I got some pretty pictures of the Temple last night. I'll try to download them tonight on our computer and bring them in tomorrow.

I did get some of my cleaning done last night, but it was after I watched "Little Mermaid". Kevin was making fun of my because I can quote like the WHOLE movie.

Little Mermaid

I went and bought the Little Mermaid DVD first thing yesterday morning. Cause you know it couldn't wait till after work...might be sold out. ;-) Last night i watched most of the extras, but i was way tired and fell asleep. But tonight i'll watch the movie...after going to the gym and doing some cleaning. I haven't been very good at going to the gym the past oh...2 months. So i've recommitted myself to going. I have a Drs. appt on the 18th and i know he will be dissapointed in me for not loosing weight since i last saw him. :-(

Cat Bowling

My cousin Kat just sent me this fun little game. If you have some time to waste away, you should check it out.

http://www.club300.ru/public/content/media/humor/cat_new/cat_new.swf

Saturday Adventure...

OK, so I'm finally going to let you know what we did on Saturday. We left at around 8:30am and drove out through Sugar City and stopped at the Teton Dam. I went there with my parents when they were here last month and so since we were on the same road, we thought we'd take a little detour over to the Dam so Kevin could see it. We then continued up to Jackson Hole WY. It was beautiful weather! We spent about 4 hours there just walking around, looking in shops, stopping at the Art Galleries. Kevin signed up to receive info about shows and such they have. He is also going to work real hard this winter to get some paintings together to try to get into the galleries up there. When we were looking around all I could think was "Kevin is SO much better than a lot of these people". So hopefully he can get some pieces in there. That would be a dream of his. Plus the price they sell a lot of the art for is insane, so it would be nice to bring in some extra $$$.

After we left Jackson we drove through Teton National Park. We saw two moose! A boy moose & a girl moose. That was really cool. I've never seen one in person before. I bet we were about 100-150 yards from them. We also stopped by Jenny Lake. It was really nice, but COLD. Kevin said the water felt good, so I told him he should go out in it. Which he did, till he got about mid-calf and said "wow, this is much colder than I thought". LOL. But I got a picture of him out there. I think I've gotten a picture of Kevin in every body of water we have gone to. LOL.

We traveled into Yellowstone through the south entrance and drove over to fishing bridge. That is where we saw lots of wildlife on our trip up there over labor day with my parents. Well there was nothing! We didn't even see any fish in the water! We did notice though as we walked along the river shore that a lot of the branches were bitten off by a beaver. So we were hoping to see one of those again. We did see a lot of different foot prints along the shore, so we know wildlife had been around and very recently.

We were driving towards the west entrance when we saw some elk on a hill side, so we stopped and looked and we heard a bull elk bugling. It was awesome. I had never heard it in person before. Then just about 1/2 mile from there we saw TONS of cars stopped on the road, we were thinking it was more buffalo, but as we asked we found out it was a grizzly bear! So we did what any person would do...parked the car and ran down the road to see if we can still see him. As we came up over this little hill there he was about 200 yards from us by the creek. it was AWESOME!! We tried getting some pictures of him, but we didn't realize how dark it was getting. We are going to try to lighten the pictures as much as we can.

We made our way to West Yellowstone and stopped for some dinner and then stopped over at the Madison Hotel to see my Aunt & Uncle that co-own the Madison Hotel. We chatted for only a minute, they had a lot of friends from UT up there to help them shut down the hotel for the winter and they were playing games. Plus it was late and we had a long day.

We finally made it home around 10:30pm. To say the least we slept in a bit on Sunday. :)

What a fun day and a great adventure!

328.8 mile Adventure

Yesterday we had a fun filled day. We went 328.8 in 14 hours -- almost exactly. You are probably wondering what all we did. Well that will have to wait till tomorrow. I have to run home, so we can make breakfast and watch General Conference. Happy Sunday everyone!