Merry Christmas!

Well, we're doing a little something different this year, I'm doing the annual Christmas letter on my blog. I was getting ready to put Christmas cards together and was feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything and decided that less is more, so I consolidated. This is quite fun anyway, so enjoy.

So every year seems to get busier. We're all growing older and that comes with more responsibility. Allen continues to be a Sergeant for the St. Anthony Work Camp. He's both enjoyed and disliked the extra responsibility. But it's been good to grow into the promotion. In church he's been called to oversee holiday flag distribution and he's also a Sunday school teacher for 16 year olds. Yeah Gospel Doctrine! He wishes he could spend more time working in the wood shop, but with the change of temperature and work schedule, it makes it tough.

Amy survived her first year at Madison High School and is cruising through the second. It's really good to get past the first year, it was definitely a transition. Her BPA group qualified to go to nationals and this year it was in New York City. So, both Allen and Amy and her students went there in May and had a great time there. They explored the city, went to museums and a Broadway show. Not to mention the other regular tourist attractions. It was a lot of fun, and very tiring with many blisters. She was elected to be the Idaho Business Education Association President for 2009 and she's both excited and nervous about the new position. In church, she continues to work on the ward bulletin, and was helping Allen with the Sunday school class until she was called to be the 1st councilor in the Primary which has been interesting. Amy still loves to make cards and explore PhotoShop and even dabbles in photography a bit.

Kenny began Kindergarten this year and he's really thrived. He's very bright for his age, but constantly needs reminded to slow down and work better on his homework. He's starting to read and write and is excited about it. This summer he played t-ball and soccer. And this fall he wrestled for the first time. I'm not sure we're ready to be such active parents with the sports...but we're toughing it out.

Ashlyn is definitely her own person with very strong opinions. Some would say she's stubborn, we think that sometimes, but really she's independent. Grandma Bowen says that it sounds like Ashlyn's mom. She's into pretend big time and of course, the colors pink and purple. She lives for the nights that daddy does her nails. We laugh, because she's either talking, crying or singing all the time. She'll be starting Sunbeams in January. She's also going to start dance class in January.

We hope that this Christmas season warms your hearts. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Kenny's Christmas Program

Well, we survived our first public education Christmas program. To say the least, it was interesting....not really very Christmassy, but ok. The theme was Christmas Around the World. Kindergarten through 3rd grade participated and I am ever so grateful that I am a high school teacher and NOT an elementry school teacher. They were amazing. Kenny told us to sit on the wrong side of the gym so for the first part of his part, we saw his back side. In the second picture above, he is at the top of the picture with a blue, third from the right. They represented Africa and did a lot of jumping around. Kind of fun to watch. Afterwards, Kenny had to sit with the rest of the Kindergarten students. He was so well behaved. I was impressed. The other two kids with Kenny pictured below are Jina and Cameron, our neighbors.

Decorating for Christmas

I love Christmas and everything about it......everything that is, but decorating for Christmas with the kids. But how can you resist the constant pleas of your children to decorate the tree, so I gave in. The kids had fun, and I'll admit, so did I, later when I could look back. Sometimes I lose perspective. I need to be more patient and learn to let go a little and just have fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we spent Thanksgiving at Allen's parent's house. We had a good time, and I know that our kids did with the cousins. We actually fit around 1 large table (well actually it was 2 tables pushed together.) Afterwards, while the girls cleaned up, the boys played poker and the kids played operations and other various games. We capped off the afternoon with pie. Later, Roy, Allen and the kids went to look at a tractor, and Jeanne and I sat back and enjoyed the silence as we pondered the whereabouts of the remote control. At least it was stuck on a chick flick. Tomorrow I plan on sleeping in while all the frenzied shoppers spend their Christmas money before it's even December. Happy Holidays!

Thankful cards

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving. I love the food and the socializing with family and friends. It's nice to get out and have a day off of work. The turkey above was a craft that Kenny, Ashlyn and myself worked on yesterday. We were making thankful cards to send to family, they should get them tomorrow. But I loved utilizing their fingerprints for the feathers. Kenny's is the red feathers, Ashlyn's is the orange (although it looks brown) and mine was yellow and the brown body. I think it looks so cute, I just had to share it with the blog.

Kenny's Wrestling continued....

Today, Kenny wrestled 4 times at Madison High School. He did so good, we are really proud of him. He worked really hard. I took some video with my camera but it was taking forever to load up so I'm posting pictures. He got 2nd place all 4 times that he wrestled. The last two he was pinned. I like to watch him wrestle because he's always smiling. But after the 4th match, when he was pinned he started to cry and it broke my heart. He tries so hard.

Grandpa Brown's Birthday!

Allen's dad's birthday is today....HAPPY BIRTHDAY. But we all got together yesterday at his house to celebrate. It's always fun to get together and let the cousins run around together. We took a picture of the Brown grandchildren. I think Grandpa is running out of room on his lap. And the kids are getting so big. I still remember Kenny as the only grandchild and really small. Now look at him. Christina's pregnant and expecting in a little over 5 weeks, and then there will be 6.

More Wrestling

So, Kenny had another wrestling match yesterday. This time it was held at Blackfoot High School. He didn't want to go and "lose" again, but we talked him into it. And it was a good thing. Kenny lost his first match, but won his second and lost his third. (bummer) But he was so excited that he won one that it didn't really matter. He received a blue ribbon and 2 reds. He was walking on air. The really cool thing though, nobody pinned him. He won or lost by points. He's definately trying harder. No pictures this time, but next week is at Madison and I'll take tons.

Wrestling Mania!

Kenny had his first wrestling match today.....and well, he got pinned all three times. But he received a red ribbon for second place for each match he wrestled. I wasn't there to be the proud or over protective mom, but next week I will be. This match took place in Shelly. Next week will be in Blackfoot. GO KENNY!

Halloweeen Fun

I love autumn! This year we decided to get our pumpkins from a real pumpkin patch. Kenny and Ashlyn were automatically drawn to the gourds. Probably for the sizes. We did end up with some bigger ones, but only because we talked them into it. Later that night we carved the pumpkins, all three of them and set them out for the night. They did a fantastic job! I know the kids had fun. We saved some seeds for next year....I really think we're going to plant them. We'll, maybe. :-)

Halloween Night!

On Halloween night, Lindsay and Kayla came up to go trick-or-treating with us. Lindsay dressed as an angel of darkness, Kayla was a kangaroo, Kenny was vampire bat, Ashlyn was a cheerleader and I was a scary something....not sure what. I told everyone I was their worst nightmare. We also met up with Bonita and her kids and we went around the neighborhood. We had a fun time and got lots of candy. When we stopped at the Skidmores, Brother Skidmore opened the door with a scary mask and a roar. All the kids on the porch just screamed and then laughed, but not Ashlyn, she turned and ran all the way back to the road where I was waiting screaming "MOMMY!" all the way. I laughed and then dragged her all the way back up so she could face her fear and get her treat now that she was tricked. Pretty funny I think.

5th Annual Halloween Party!

Earlier this month, we hosted the 5th Annual Brown Halloween party. The party was great. We've invited mostly the same kids each year. We started this tradition when Kenny was just barely 1 years old as an alternative to friend birthday parties. Now everyone looks forward to the party, so keep it up.

This year we read scary children books, played pin the face on the jack-o-lantern and name the ghosty in the middle. We colored Halloween pictures and made magnets. To top it off, we had refreshments and party favors. Everyone had a great time and we finished off with the traditional Halloween Party photograph seen here.

Rexburg, Idaho LDS Temple

Can I just say how excited I am for the Rexburg temple? It's so beautiful! Every morning as I drive to work, I drive on the road facing the temple. The road's quiet and it's still kind of dark so the temple is light up. It's beautiful and it will be a blessing to this community. The open house is coming in late December and soon to follow the dedication. Can't wait for it to be officially open for business.

Here I am

As a lover for all things techy, I have a tendency to float to anything on the computer that is new and interesting. I've heard of blogs for some time, and I've not been sold completely. But I'm giving it a try. I guess the key is to remember that you have a blog and add to it. Also, to let others know you have it. (we'll see about that) So here I am without much to say. I'm sure I'll come up with something.