Christmas Greetings!

Anyone know who this special Santa is? Sadly, my children didn't get to see this Santa, I think they'd figure it out.

Merry Christmas everyone! Another year has gone by and we've experienced some major change. But isn't that what life is really all about. This summer, we moved to Pocatello. Allen got a position up at the Women's Prison and I got a teaching job at Marsh Valley High School, where I graduated from. Which, in itself, has been an adjustment. I've gotten to see so many old friends and it's been real fun. And also, Marsh Valley only has a 4 day work week. I love that!

We've adjusted to our new ward pretty well. I was put in as Sunbeam teacher and Allen is over the 14 year old boys in scouts. We've spoken in church already and the kids are having a great time in Primary. I can't believe that Kenny will be baptised next year. It's hard to imagine. Kenny goes to school at Greenacres and is in a classroom that has both 2nd and 1st graders. I love it because I believe he's being challenged. I get to volunteer in his classroom on Fridays. Ashlyn has been in dance class where she's learning tap and ballet. She goes to preschool 3 days a week and loves it because she gets to go with her cousin Savannah. Both kids have a lot of friends and play with them often.

Allen has been working grave yards at the prison, but that means we get to spend a lot of family time together at night. Which the kids love. Except for lately when I've been working a lot at Deseret Book for Christmas help. That has been a challenge. But less credit card debt for Christmas which is always a bonus. Pretty much, we're loving living so close to our families. I love the convenience of Pocatello.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope everyone is doing well.

Gail Petersen Emfield

I had the opportunity yesterday to attend the funeral of my high school best friend's mother. Gail was an amazing woman. Even though she had many health issues, her spirits were always high. I learned so much about her yesterday. Like, because of her arthritis in her hands, she only had 10% use of them. I knew things were rough. She was a strong woman with deep roots in the gospel. She was an example to anyone who met her. She raised 5 young children by herself after the death of her husband. I believe Becky was only in 7th grade. Gail was a second mother to me. Her house was always open and remember fondly the parties and just hanging out there.

She eventually died from a brain tumor after a 4 year battle. I will miss her, even though I haven't really seen her in 10 years. It has been her example and the example of her children that made me who I am today.

Merry Christmas (a little early)

Introducing, my new Moto Q 9c. Allen and my Christmas present to each other. Allen's is grey/black. So here's my new baby. Isn't she beautiful! I love the color and the qwerty keyboard. I love that I can check my e-mail and surf the Internet, and it's even a useful PDA. NICE! I just thought I'd show her off.

Glenn Beck Came to Town....not Santa

Many of you may not realize that I've been working at Deseret Book for Christmas help this year. It's been really fun. Even on Tuesday, which was a madhouse because the notorious Glenn Beck came for a book signing.

It has been said that Deseret Book saw over 800 people that came specifically to see Glenn. That night, we had an unheard of $4,000 hour. A new store record. I myself got to shake his hand although I didn't get to go through the line. Just one of the perks of working there, and being in the right place at the right time. That also helps. Glenn was very genuine and gracious. Saying a lot of "God Bless" and "Thanks for braving the cold weather". Once the hour was up, he was gone. He had another book signing at Barnes and Noble in Idaho Falls at 8 pm.

Afterwards, it took me a long time to unwind and I had a hard time focusing on my work because I was so hyped. But it was fun to be in the presence of a celebrity.

Well, it happens to everyone, right?

I knew it was just a matter of time, Ashlyn cut her hair. She was actually pretty calm about it. Kind of repentant, but mostly, I've noticed, she has become vain. Every time I look at her she's looking at her reflection in the mirror or the TV or whatever. She complains that her bangs won't lay down flat. I've tried evening them out, but if I cut anymore, she won't have anymore hair. It will grow and she may do it again. But probably not for awhile. I think she really felt bad.

Day after Thanksgiving

The day after Thanksgiving, Mom and I had to get up at 4 am so that we could go to work at Deseret Book by 5:30. I have never gone shopping on black Friday, but what I saw that day was INSANE! The parking lot of Walmart was packed full and by the time we got into Deseret Book it was busy like 6 pm. And there were no children and many women were in pajamas. It was Crazy!

Later that night, we went to the Parade of Lights in old town Pocatello with Roy and Jeanne. It was pretty cold and it was so funny watching Ashlyn try to pick up candy with her mittins on. She resorted to holding out her bag as passer-bys put handfuls of candy in it. We ended up with just as much candy as we did from Halloween. The parade was fun. Ashlyn needed to go the bathroom and we missed the last 5 minutes of the parade as well as Santa himself. Sad, but I didn't tell her about it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was great! We went to my parents house along with Lindsay, Kent and Kayla. We got there early so Allen could go upstairs and to bed. We didn't eat until 6 pm that night so all day we were cooking and playing the Wii. We had a great time visiting and just hanging out. My specialty this year was the turkey rolls. From which I stole from www.rhodes.com. They turned out great and Kenny and Ashlyn loved to help.

Lindsay trying on dresses

With Lindsay getting married this summer, she wanted to get a jump on the wedding dress thing, so we had a girls day out with Mom, me, Lindsay, Ashlyn and Kayla. I'm not posting pictures of Lindsay with some dresses on, just pictures of Ashlyn and her little copy cat cousin Kayla.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Well, another year has passed and we've celebrated another Grandpa Brown Birthday. As per tradition, all the grand kids surround him for the annual picture. I can't believe how fast the family grows. Both in numbers and in size.

A funny thing happend at school today.....

That's right, when I entered my classroom this morning, the room was filled with balloons. The picture doesn't do it justice because we walked around and eventually made a trail. Way crazy. But the sad thing is there were also signs that said "Happy 42nd Birthday Mrs. Brown!" My desk was covered with balloons and a present! Even though my birthday isn't until January. But this little practical joke is not undeserved. Let me tell you the back story.

First of all, it all started yesterday during 2nd hour. I was, you could say, on one, and so was a certain student and her sister. Some teasing happened, and I tossed a pen at her....barely touching her....and a tissue box. 3rd hour, I got a note to go to the media center to discuss my behavior with a student that had complained to the office. I knew something was up and that it was fake. But I went anyway, just for fun. Again I threw a box of nerds at the student in question and told her she was a big nerd. I wasn't done. 6th hour, I had her called to the counselor's office to discuss her problem with forgery and that it was a federal offense. He razzed her pretty good and sent her back. And then I walked in this morning to this mess.

1st hour today was crazy because every one's taking finals and popping balloons and even Mr. Welch walked in to see what was up and popped a few. I let the balloons stick around until 2nd hour and then I cleaned it up and saved an entire garbage bag full of balloons for my kiddos. They'll love that. Sadly, all day long I've been greeted with birthday well wishers and their dismay that I hardly looked 42....that couldn't be right! I loved that part.

Now it's my turn and I'm trying to think of some pay backs. Any ideas?

More photography fun!

I love that I worry about pictures now and that I play with the settings on my camera. This week's assignment was a still life. I am proud to say that my teacher really liked my picture and told me I get an A+! I admit, it is one of my favorites. I call it, "Tools of the Trade". Although I really agonized over this shot. I'm excited to try again with other subjects.

The next picture, I took at Kenny's Halloween parade. This is a little girl in our neighborhood and ward. I'd like to say I planned this, but really it happened by accident and I really like the affect. I can't wait to show her mother.

Halloween Fun

Halloween was so much fun this year. I got to go to Kenny's school with Ashlyn to watch the Halloween parade. Lot's of fun and Ashlyn loved it! Afterwards, we went to the court house and saw our friend Paula. She's quite the witch!

Later that night, we went to the trunk or treat for our ward building. Here's a picture of Kenny and Ashlyn with our neighbor friends.

We continued our trick or treating with a stop at the mall to see Grandma Bowen and get more candy. After that we went to Grandma and Grandpa Brown's house to hang out with the cousins and finish off with some pizza for dinner.

Since I'm in my photography class, every picture I take, I'm experimenting. The picture of our carved pumpkins below is taken with a 15 second exposure, without a flash on a tripod. It's so cool because this was taken at 9 pm and it was completely dark outside. I'm impressed with myself.

Photography Class

I have had the long time goal to take a photography class. It probably was started as I was beginning to teach Adobe Photo shop. Everything I read pointed to starting with better pictures to begin with because Photo shop can only fix so much. Well, every time a community photography class was offered, I couldn't participate because of conflicts. Well that has all changed now. I'm halfway through my 4 week photography class and I am completely inspired. Here are a few of my favorites from this week's close-up assignment.

I've also been experimenting with light at night. I have grand plans of some cool shots, but these are just me experimenting. The first one is of Kenny and Ashlyn playing with flashlights in the back seat of the Yukon. The second one is of us driving home from Malad Sunday.

I love this class!

I'm counting down the days!

My Halloween Invites

So, here they are....This year's Halloween Party invitations. Now you see the significance of the sad candy corn. I spent time doing them, and didn't get to use them, so I thought I would share here. ENJOY!

6th Annual Halloween Party.....CANCELED!

I was so excited as I began to do invites and make plans for the 6th Annual Halloween Party. I've done one ever since Kenny was 1 years old and I've loved to invite the moms as well. But with the move, it has really messed this tradition up. I made the guest list, then the invites and started handing them out. When I went to the neighbors, I discovered that they would be out of town that weekend. And then a sister-in-law had another party to go to the same weekend and was struggling with the decision....so I canceled it. All of that and this being a busy week with Parent/Teacher Conference and a very messy house left me with very little ambition. So, it's official, NO PARTY!

It snowed everywhere but...

So, this past weekend was really cold and that included snow. YUCK! I knew it was cold when I woke up and I figured there was snow, but when I looked outside, my yard was as green as ever. All the neighbors had tons of snow, but not us. What happened? The kids were sad. Our neighbors were showing off at 9 am making a miniature snowman. But not my kids. It took me awhile and I finally figured it out. My sprinkler system went off early in the morning and melted all the snow before we could see it. It was pretty funny driving down our street and and seeing snow everywhere, and our yard practically glowing. It made me feel warm inside, until I stepped outside. BURRR!

Contraband and Concubines

This Sunday, Allen and I were set apart into our new callings. He's the new Varsity Scout Leader and I'm a Sunbeam teacher. In my last Relief Society, a bishopric member brought me a ward directory, and I'm so glad. But apparently, getting a ward directory is a rarity in this ward because everyone around me started commenting and saying things like "you must be important because I've been asking for one for 4 years and I still haven't gotten one." I felt bad and kind of guilty. But I'm not sure why. But an easy solution was to go to the library and make copies, so I did. I made 5 of them and the librarian was also taken back by my having them. And she made one for herself. When I got back to Relief Society, I passed the copies...aka my contraband...to the ladies who wanted them and then went on with life.

Later that day as we were being set apart, another lady in the room that had witnessed me distributing my contraband commented as she was leaving "Watch out for this one (pointing at me), she passes out concubines in Relief Society." I was stunned. I can't believe she actually had said concubines in the bishop's office. She left and everyone was looking at me like "What don't we know about her?" I quickly explained the error, sheepishly and then they set me apart. I wonder if that lady ever realized what she said, or if that would explain her quick exit.

Top 10 Things

So, every once in awhile I get home sick for my life up in Sugar City and so I think it's about time to list the top 10 things I miss:

• Of course, the friends we left behind

Thank goodness I've got blogs, e-mail and text messages to stay in touch.

• Seeing the Rexburg temple everywhere I go

• Bunco

Girls, I sure miss you!

• Spud Harvest Break

I can't believe that Marsh Valley doesn't have this luxury!!!!

• Fenced back yard

Poor Baxter now knows what a leash is and every chance he gets, he's chewing on it. Can't blame him!

• Uptown Bagel

Only the best bagel place ever!

• My kids friends
• A great ward to be a part of
• A great neighborhood
• Ashlyn's day care

They were the best.

But now that I've moved to Pocatello, I'm starting a new top 10 things I love about our new adventure:

• Being closer to family
• Having EVERY Friday off
• I love the shopping... though not a good as Idaho Falls or Salt Lake, but definitely better than Rexburg.
• Eating my Dad's catering job left overs
• Having 1 pm church (the only day I sleep in)
• Ashlyn can go to dance class (thank you Grandma Brown)
• The great kids at Marsh Valley
• I get to volunteer in Kenny's classroom every Friday
• Kenny loves Saturday breakfasts with Grandpa
• Kelly fixes my car....a lot (new brakes, new tires) He's awesome!

And......She's Back!

OK, I know you've been wondering....WHAT THE HECK! Where is she? Well, to be honest, life has not allowed for extra curricular computer activities. And, we just got the Internet at our new house a couple of days ago. In the last month, we've moved to Pocatello, and both Allen and I have started our new jobs. Insane is the word of the month because I've cleaned, and unpacked at our new house (still a long way to go). We've cleaned and packed up our old house (finally done!) I've cleaned and unpacked my classroom, and tried to figure out what I'm teaching, as well as all the other regular teacher stuff. Frankly, I've felt overwhelmed, to say the least.

Then yesterday, the first day for students, I had a student come up to me and said, "You know my mom, you graduated with her." I honestly didn't think I was old enough to be teaching the children of my classmates. WEIRD! I knew it would come sooner or later but still, it tripped me out a bit.

And let's just say working at the high school where you graduated from is weird. The teachers who taught me can't remember my maiden name. Obviously Brown is a really hard name to remember. I'm also struggling to call my now fellow teachers by their first name instead of Mr. or Mrs. I'm sure it will be OK, just an adjustment.

Anyway, life is beginning to settle down. So, maybe next week, I'll have some additional summer updates. But right now.

Whoa!

Ok, so I know I've been a little MIA this summer. Tons of things have happened and I've needed to blog them. Things like Ashlyn's birthday. And even now as I'm writing this blog, I keep thinking of other blog items. But right now I'm going to blog my excuse for not keeing up. Here is what I've really been up to:

• Straitening up the house
• Boxing up the house
• Washing walls
• Taking boxes to our storage unit in Pocatello
• Scrubbing floors
• Trying to sell our home in Sugar
• Looking for a house to buy in Pocatello
• Stressing out about my new job in Marsh Valley (although there's nothing I can do right now.)
• Taking an online class
• Stressing out about teaching at IDLA (again, there's nothing I can do right now.)
• Wondering what school to enroll Kenny in next year
• Trying to figure out day care for Ashlyn
• Keeping up with the neighborhood weight loss challenge

Wow, just writing it all down stresses me out more. I need to go take a nap. Wish me luck!

Happy 4th of July!

So I did it. I ran my 5K. It was long and there were tons of people there. Definitely some real runners. You know the type, the kind that show up 2 hours early to preview the course and warm up. Not me, I just show up early because I'm terrified that I'm going to get so far behind, I'll be lost. All in all, it was not as horrible as I thought it would be. I did finish the race in just 40 minutes. And I wasn't the last.....close though. I'm glad I did it....even though half the course smelled like sewer. But I couldn't have done it without Megan's help. Thanks Megan!

Later, we went to the parade in Rexburg and that night, we went to the Lenz's for fun, food and fireworks. What great friends. And bonds are always deeper when blowing stuff up. Check out the video. Allen was putting little dynamites inside water bottles and they were shooting up into the air as high as the roof. Later that night we had a great time with fireworks, Allen's favorite part of the holiday.

Primary Activity

Well, I had another Primary activity that I was in charge of and this time we had bubble fun! It was great to talk to the children about their testimonies and the importance of breaking out of your bubble to make new friends and try new things. The kids wrote down their testimonies and we're sending them to a mission president and his wife from our ward to share with another Primary. We're also sending the pictures to the Friend. Who knew that bubbles could be so much fun. The sad thing was, the Sunday after the event the presidency was released and now I'm not in Primary any more. I love those kids! Here are few pictures.

For Those Who Don't Know.....

Two weeks before school let out for the summer, I was informed that they were not going to renew my teaching contract for next year. Of course I was heart broken. I've loved teaching at Madison and I was looking forward to next year. But it was not meant to be. I was worried because many of the known business teaching positions were already claimed for this area and I had to widen my search. I applied at Marsh Valley, my old high school when I was a student. I interviewed on Wednesday and yesterday, they offered me the job and I accepted.

This is very exciting and scary and sad all at the same time. While I am relieved to have a job in the fall, this decision means we have to move this summer. We've lived in Sugar City for 6 1/2 years now and I have loved it. This community is great and I love my ward. I have a lot of great friends that I'm going to miss dearly. Allen has to find a job now, which is kind of nerve racking. So much hinged on that one decision that left me without a job. I have to believe that everything happens for a reason and we for some reason are meant to live a little farther south.

We're looking for houses in Pocatello. It will be nice to be closer to family, and live in a bigger city, and a bigger house. We're also planning on a yard sale the end of July to get rid of anything we can before we pack up and move out. Not to mention that we have to sell this house. The best phrase to sum up this situation is CHANGE IS HARD!

All the way to Virgina

So, over Memorial Day weekend, I went to Virginia with Jeanne, my mother-in-law. We had a great time and definitely got our fill of history. We flew into Richmond on Thursday and drove to Williamsburg and ate dinner at this all you can eat seafood restaurant. It was great. Although a little challenging with my diet. I stuck to steamed shrimp and grilled or boiled seafood. I think I did pretty good. That night we crashed hard after a long day of traveling with a very early morning.

Everywhere we went it was kind of difficult to keep track of where we were because every road seemed to be lined with large trees. We were driving in a tunnel of sorts. Very different from the sage brush of Idaho. It was kind of hypnotic in a way. I can't imagine fighting any kind of a war in this type of environment.

On Friday we spent the day in Colonial Williamsburg. It was fun. We did a lot of walking and saw a lot of actors in period clothing which was really fun. We got to listen to Martha Washington speak (although I was so tired I fell asleep....kind of). I loved all the gardens and we got to see real magnolia blossoms on a magnolia tree. I loved it. I especially loved the bridges. Beautiful! That night we drove to Virgina Beach. (I know what you're thinking, it's Memorial Day weekend! Are you crazy!?!) Well, by the time we got to the beach, it was pretty empty. Only the people on the streets were in a bit of a festive mood. We walked along the beach and I choose to walk in the water. So peaceful and relaxing. I can definitely see the draw.

On Saturday, we started out at Jamestown, the actual site where archaeological dig is taking place. Very interesting. Then we drove to Jamestown, the tourist attraction. Very different and perfect for schools and children, but it didn't really hold our attention very long because we'd seen the actual site first. Finally we drove to Yorktown museum which was interesting and kind of similar to Jamestown tourist site. Then we went to the Yorktown battlefield where we were momentarily confused to find Civil War reenactors on the battlefield. Kind of cool really. We got to see George Washington's tent he actually used. By the end of that, we were overflowing with history and ready for a break....so Olive Garden it was. Perfect.

On Sunday, we traveled to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson and it was worth the trip. It was very beautiful. And I learned so much about him. He was in his early 30's when we wrote the Declaration of Independence. So young! His plantation is amazing. It sits on top of a mountain and is surrounded by trees so it's hidden from everyone. I recommend this stop to anyone! That evening we drove back to Richmond and found our hotel so we can start the long trip back home early the next morning. Needless to say we were exhausted the next day. All in all it was a great way to spend the Memorial weekend.