Eight years ago, July 19th, it was a hot summer afternoon in Rexburg and I stepped into my doctor's office and said to him it was time to have this baby. Sure, it was two weeks before my due date, but Dr. Lovell said he'd check the hospital to see if there was any open beds, and if there was he'd be happy to start me. And five hours later, Ashlyn Paige Brown was brought into the world, and the world hasn't been the same since. I can't imagine life without my little girl. So, in true Brown fashion, we had a great family birthday party. Of course she got spoiled. We gave her a boom box, and I swear she shed a tear.
Look, I even decorated!
Allen had to show off his mad BBQ skills. Yummo!
Her lovely birthday cake, chocolate, with fudge filling.
Kelly had to help light the candles in the garage because the wind was so strong.
All the family who came.
Jarod and Sherry gave Ashlyn this cool chair that Tommy claims every chance he gets.
And turning 8 means a pending baptism. So invites were made after a quick trip to the Idaho Falls Temple.
This past weekend, I had the honor and privilege of participating in Relay for Life. What a great experience. My team was called "Scrapping for Life" and there were 17 of us. Each member was to earn a minimum of $100, all going to the American Cancer Society. With the Photoshop classes that I taught, I raised $300 for our team. We also had a team yard sale where we made more money and the night of the Relay, we sold walking tacos and cobbler. Our grand total for our team was around $3,200, doubling our goal. The overall Relay event fundraising total was about $141,000. AMAZING!
We each had team jackets in teal, which represented ovarian cancer. Our team logo was on the back and then on the sleeve it said "I Relay For" and then we listed the those who lost the battle with cancer or the survivors of cancer that we know personally. The names on my jacket are Kay Bowen, Roy Brown, Delpha Miner, and Christina Brown. We also had a banner with everyone's names written on it.
Here are a few pictures from the event.
This is from the Survivor Lap. Christina is in there somewhere.
This little cutie is a survivor. Sad, I know
These are our team luminaries. The last 4 are mine, for my mom, grandma, Roy and Christina.
This is our tent site. (Tent courtesy of my dad, THANKS!) People sincerely asked us if we were the first aid tent because of all the cool lounge chairs. We looked like we were just waiting to donate blood. Kind of funny because the the Fire department and real first aid station was just next door.
This gentleman's name is Vern Van Every, and let me tell you, he's pretty neat. I noticed him early on in the relay walking with his two braces around the track. He wasn't walking fast, just slow and steady. Every time he passed our camp, I would watch in awe and admire his dedication. I didn't think much of him after awhile, but he was soon brought to our attention during my 2:30 am walking time when we passed him on the track. The thought came to me that he's an all nighter relayer. So, with the assistance from Marilee and Connie we slowed our pace to walk a little with him. So Vern has been walking with the local Civitans for 6 years. He is one dedicated guy.
This is the Century Drum Line that led off our closing ceremony at about 6:30 am. Our neighbor Nate is in the center front.
We each had jackets, and here's a great shot of us at closing ceremony. You could see our team from the freeway, no fooling.
So my experience with Relay for Life was awesome. But our community didn't stop there. On the other side of Century High School, at 7am, nearly 2000 people showed up to help with the clean up efforts from the Charlotte fire, organized by the LDS church, but it included people from all different faiths. Watch this little video to learn more about that event.
It truly is amazing what happens when a community comes together.
Thank you Pinterest, for bringing this yummy recipe into my family's life. It was awesome and definitely a keeper. Ashlyn even finished her plate, well and so did Tommy which is an accomplishment. Kenny had seconds, and there are a few leftovers for Allen to take to work tomorrow.
So here's the recipe for your future eating pleasure, and it's being added to our favorite family recipes. I even think that it would be good as a freezer meal.
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I purchased 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cut them into chicken tender size. (Mostly because Albertson's was all out of chicken tenders, our family preference) I then put them in a bowl and poured milk over them until and set them in the fridge for 20 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, I mixed in a bowl the following:
1/2 tsp. Salt1 T Lowery's Seasoning Salt3/4 tsp Pepper1 c. Flour2 tsp. Paprika Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut 1/2 stick of butter into a few pieces and place in a 9x13 pan. Melt butter in pre-heated oven. Spread melted butter around the bottom of the pan. Lightly spray the pan, if needed, to make sure that there are no dry spots. Shake excess milk off of chicken and completely coat each piece with the seasoning mix. You can either shake the chicken in the bag, until coated, or dip each piece in the bowl until coated. Place each piece of chicken in the pan. Cook for 20 min. Turn each piece of chicken and continue cooking for 20 more minutes, or until cooked through. The chicken was so tender and the the crust was so yummy, I almost licked the plate clean. And best of all, it's baked, not fried. So better for you. If I was making this as a freezer meal, I would melt the butter and pour it in the bottom instead of preheating it in the pan. I'd do the chicken the same and then pack it for the freezer. Remember to thaw out the freezer meal before actually baking it.
Fix it for your family this weekend, trust me. You'll thank me later!
This past week I have been reading Stephanie Nielson's book called Heaven Is Here. And if you don't know who Stephanie is, then you should check out her blog here. She is truly an inspiration to all, not only because she survived a plane crash which resulted in 80% of her body being burned, but because of her dedication as a wife and mother.
You can watch below a short clip about her book and life before and after the accident.
So, what have I learned from Stephanie? She is committed to getting better, to be a better mother and wife, to feeling better, do doing more things without help. And I can be better as well. I'm really busy in my life. I work 3 jobs (teaching at Marsh Valley High School, part time at Deseret Book, and teaching an online high school class). Sure, I'm busy, but who isn't. I've learned from Stephanie that there is always time for my kids. So I resolved to be more at home, with my kids, with my family. And I'm not talking physically. I need to play with them, to read with them, to cook and clean with them. And as a result, I feel like I can accomplish more. Yah, it's summer, but baby steps right?
I've also resolved to be a better blogger. Not just to have a record of day to day events, but to explore gospel topics and realizations that I've had. I want to edify my readers, not to bore them. So thank you Stephanie Nielson, it is true that a book can change a person, and yours truly has. And for that I am grateful.
When I first started blogging a few years ago, the reason was simple. We lived far enough away from our family and we wanted them to be a part of our lives. But, times have changed, and my blog has gone to the back burner as life took over. We moved closer to family and instead of writing about life, we all got together more often and we talked about life.
I'm now ready for an upgrade. I want to take a different turn in my blog, and I hope I can pull it off. Stay tuned.
This time tomorrow, I will be here, the heart of our nation. And I can hardly wait!
Yes, I'm leaving my kiddos for 6 days and yes, Allen is coming with me. We're taking a few high school students to compete nationally with BPA, a club that I advise at school. We're going to have a blast!
I've got tours for the Supreme Court, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Library of Congress, the Archives, the Capital, the Kennedy Center, and Mount Vernon. We're hoping to get to the Holocaust Museum as well as see as many of the Smithsonians as we are able. I would also love to see Georgetown, the National Cathedral and of course Arlington Cemetary is a must.
This is my second time to DC, but Allen's first and I'm excited share this experience with him. Wish us luck!
I have the honor of participating in our stake's annual Walk With Christ. This event begins with the nativity and moves through his ministry, Crucifixion, resurrection, and restoration of the gospel. Each room depicts that moment in his life by witnesses telling of their experiences with Christ. (No one actually plays Christ). There are many beautiful pictures that represent Christ. This spirit is strong and testifies.
I am very excited and terrified at the same time. All because I have been assigned to play the role of Mary Magdalene at the garden tomb.
I know this event will be very spiritual and will allow visitors a chance to reflect on the Savior and his love for us. My insecurity is that because I can't memorize very well, that I will mess up the experience for others. Inwardly, I know that this is Satan's plan to make me nervous and doubtful. But I still worry.
This is what I will be doing Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of next week. The event is open to the public and we expect to see many people there. I hope I survive.
I am on a mission to document the history of my wedding dress. Recently, I received my dress after it had been stored at my parent's house. So now, it's in my possession and it seems a shame to box it up and put it away to later be discovered. You see, my dress has a unique history. It was purchased many years ago by my aunt from ZCMI. Later, another aunt, and then my mother all wore the dress. Not to mention that half of Banida wore the dress. Finally myself and a few of my cousins also wore the dress. I am the last to have worn it.
So, to honor it's memory I am putting together a book, with everyone's love story and their wedding picture. I also plan on taking some up close and personal pictures of the detail work of the dress. I would love to receive any ideas, but right now I'm pretty excited about the project. It should be fun and I hope to have them available to sell at the next reunion this summer. Wish me luck!
It's been 3 years and many huge obstacles since my feelings were hurt deeply. And now it's time. Time to forgive, time to make nice, and time to move on. I know that I will see the person in question this weekend and I would not be telling the truth if I said I wasn't scared. I have been very cool to her and I have worried about what I would say to her. I forgive her, so I can move past this. I have no doubt that she will act coolly to me, probably even ignore me. I plan to talk to her and make nice. I don't want to be buddies again. I don't even want to be Facebook friends. I just want to let it go. Lord help me keep it together and move forward.
I know, I know. You probably thought I dropped off the face of the earth. I mean, my last post was clear back in April. I can't believe that. Well the truth is I just haven't had time, then I got lazy, then I forgot about the blog. But I'm here now and I'm back, better than ever. Let me give you a recap of what you've missed.
I finished my first year at Marsh Valley, and they actually wanted me back!
Over the summer we went to the Miles Family Reunion at Cherry Hill during some really rainy weather.
We also toured Temple Square with the kids, which they loved, and Hogle Zoo, and during one of the really rainy days, we went to the Children's museum in Ogden. Great place!
I stripped wallpaper off the walls most of the summer, then I textured, and then I painted. I'm actually still not done. I have to do the stairwell and the little hallway by the bedrooms. But I love what I've done so far. I got adventurous and painted a red wall in the kitchen and the brick around the fireplace the same red.
We planted a garden and harvested many things, but especially 13 pumpkins from our 2 plants. Crazy!
I went to the IDLA Conference in Boise.
I taught a summer IDLA class, which was crazy with all the software updates.
I took pictures of Lindsay and her family, just before they got married.
I entered some photography in the EISF and actually won! $29 to be exact. I got a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Honorable Mention!
I became president of IBEA and just recently finished putting on a teacher conference here in Bosie, and I'm sure glad that's over.
Let's see, Ashlyn turned 5 in July and Kenny turned 8 in September. Just this Saturday he was baptized. We are so proud of him.
I feel bad because any one of these bullets could have been a fantastic post with pictures, but because I am lazy and I have a headache, this is all you'll get. but I can promise you that I will be better in the future with lots of pictures.
Last night on Channel 6 at 6:00 pm, the photograph above was featured in the Weather Pics segment. I was pretty excited because this is one of my favorite pictures from our Coeur d'Alene trip. Eventually they will post the picture on their website, but it wasn't posted yet. Here's the link: KPVI Once it's up there you may have to scroll through the pictures....or you can just look above.
So at BPA State a couple of weeks ago, I convinced a few students to let me photograph them. Here are the results after a little tweaking in Photoshop. What do you think? Just practicing for Lindsay's engagement and wedding pictures.
I found this on my friend Apryl's blog. And it's incredible how well spoken she is. Everyone should watch this. It's just over 20 minutes so make sure you have time.
This summer, Grandpa Brown found an old briefcase for sale at a gargage sale, and guess what, Kenny had to have it. It came with a key and Kenny puts all of his treasures in it. Which actually works out surprisingly well, with a nosey sister sniffing around. This thing, I swear, weighs about 20 pounds. It's really heavy and he drags it around everywhere. We got a rare view of what was inside and every night, after homework, he pulls everything out, and looks at it, and reorganizes. It's so funny to see the things that he finds important.
Valentine's weekend found Allen and I on a trip to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Way up north. We flew because driving takes something like 13 hours....YUCK! I had to go there for the WBEA conference, since I was on the conference committee and executive committee. It's not my fault that it fell on the most romantic weekend of the year. We stayed at the resort that is right on the lake, and every morning, we looked out our window to see a new view of the lake. All breath taking. It was cold, of course, and just a little bit of snow, a healthy dose of fog, and a couple of sunshinny days. Don't worry, I took lots of pictures and I'm going to post them...but not all. But it definately gave me a chance to really play with my camera. The conference was good and I got tons of ideas for my classroom.
Saturday was my 33rd birthday. Wonderful. I was fine with my age, embracing it really, until mom called and said, "what is it, your 35th?" Then I felt old. I was glad I wasn't really 35, but I took real comfort in knowing that my mom probably thought she was old enough to have a 35 year old. And then I felt better.
My day was pretty casual, did some cleaning and took a long bath. Read more of my Chris Stewart book. Took the kids to the neighbor's baptism, and then went to Roy and Jeanne's for a family birthday party. I got really spoiled this year. I got some movies, 13 Going on 30, and 27 Dresses. Bath and Body Works lotion and shower gel, a 4 book series, a big bag of Swedish fish, a gift certificate to Waldon Books. Yay! Then I got in the mail a West Jefferson HS BPA community cookbook. It's awesome! Also a photography book....and last but not least.......
A Nikon d60 dsrl camera. I had no idea that I was getting it. It came with a 18-55 mm lens and I also got a 55-200 mm lens. A filter for night photography that makes points of light turn into a 6 pointed star, of course, a camera bag, memory cards. I even got a Epson high resolution color printer to print out my works of art! I was so excited I nearly cried. AND.....it even came with photography lessons and a couple of how to dvds. Needless to say, I have a new favorite sound....it's the sound a slr makes when the shutter clicks.
I was in heaven, and struggled to plan for my Sunbeam lesson. I can't wait to really get to take pictures, not just goofing around. All in all, I had a great birthday! Thank you everyone!
Ashlyn had her ballet and tap dance recital the other night and it was really cute to see these 4 year olds dance on stage at Pocatello High School. The night before we put her hair in curlers so she would have curly hair. And instantly, it brought back memories of Grandma Miles where we had to have curly hair for church when we would sleep over at her house.
Of course we had to cover it all up with a bandana so she wouldn't play with it.
She got to wear makeup and dress up in her cute outfit. Way fun for her. This is what she looked like.
And here she is on stage waiting to go on when it's her turn. She always knows when a camera is out so she can pose. Pretty dang cute. I tried loading her videos, I'll try at school. It wouldn't work at home.
So, tonight I sat in on Kenny's first guitar class. That's right! My little boy....age 7, is taking guitar lessons. In a group class. So that means that there are about 25 kids, ages 5-13 all strumming, picking, tuning, warming up, knocking over music stands, talking, and even really rocking out to the song in their head.....ALL AT THE SAME TIME. His teacher is possibly the most patient man ever. Let me just describe him. He has salt and pepper hair in a pony tail that trails down to his butt. Definitely has that hippy vibe. He's got a very hairy beard. But trimmed. And get this, his last name is Hendricks. Coincidence? I think not!
Kenny was a model student. Raising his hand when the teacher asked a question. He even got one right. He took notes and practiced. He really wants to play a real song and I think he's beginning to understand that it is going to take many hours of practice to get really good. I hope he doesn't get discouraged.
Later tonight, I caught him playing his air guitar in the hallway. Just like Chris from the Family Guy posted below. When he looked up and noticed I was eavesdropping on the concert, he stuck out his tongue and gave me the rock on sign. Should I really encourage this?
Valentine's weekend found Allen and I on a trip to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Way up north. We flew because driving takes something like 13 hours....YUCK! I had to go there for the WBEA conference, since I was on the conference committee and executive committee. It's not my fault that it fell on the most romantic weekend of the year. We stayed at the resort that is right on the lake, and every morning, we looked out our window to see a new view of the lake. All breath taking. It was cold, of course, and just a little bit of snow, a healthy dose of fog, and a couple of sunshinny days. Don't worry, I took lots of pictures and I'm going to post them...but not all. But it definately gave me a chance to really play with my camera. The conference was good and I got tons of ideas for my classroom.
