Thanksgiving 2008

Wow!!! It was here and is gone! We had 30 people in our house and nothing is broke and everything is cleaned. Mark bought a fresh pig leg and smoked it and we smoked a turkey. I even made mashed potatoes from red potatoes and stuffing and green bean casserole. I'm very proud because there wasn't any left. Yeah!! I can cook and people will eat it. We had all of Mark's family and my family. We even had my cousin and family from Washington. We saw them when we went on our cruise in May and then Anita was down for a funeral and now the whole family is down. We are loving it and the kids are having a great time.

Hiking Usury Mountain Wind Cave

We are cleaning up the yard for Thanksgiving and the kids are playing on the airplane. Whitni is a pilot. Scarey!!!! Mark and Pepper are cleaning out the weeds. What a job!!!
Brynne has joined the Nature Club this year, so we get to go on hikes. This is our first hike of the year. We hiked up Usury Park the Wind Cave. It was 1.6 miles up and 1.6 miles down. We went up about 800 feet and saw gorgeous views. This is our exercise for the family. We didn't have 2 of the kids because Grandma was here and they wanted to stay with her. It was good because we found our Whitni "puked" in her bed. Well keep you updated on the monthly hikes.

Halloween 2008

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Halloween 2008 was spent with Kathy and Del Olsen and another family. The kids loved trick or treating and getting all of the candy. Mommy wasn't real happy about all the sugar but kids will be kids. Brynne was Alice in Wonderland. Morgan was Belle and a pretty beauty. Torey was a pirate with a patch on his eye. The patch is actually for a stigmatism problem and is getting better. Little Whitni was Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and a very cute Sleeping Beauty. We walked the whole neighborhood and got lots of candy for Mommy to look at and sort through. Will post more later. I know that it is Thanksgiving and I'm just putting Halloween on. But better late than never. Mark is dressed as a Dork for Dork side. Haha!!!

It's October and the end is coming to October!!!!!

Where are we? We just finished a great time of Special Meetings. We had a few changes of where meetings were held but change is good when the fellowship is still there. The weather is starting to cool down a little. We are in the 90s and not the 100s. Hey it is cooler. We are enjoying our courtyard in the front and eat dinner out there lots. I will have to get a picture on the blog real soon. The kids are on the 2nd quarter and doing great. They had the time of their life spending a week in Cottonwood with my parents and the 2nd week of break in Tucson with Mark's parents. We had weekend visitation for 2 weeks. Our parents didn't trust us with our kids. Just kidding!!! We have managed to get glasses for Torey and Morgan and now have 3 kids in glasses. I'm broke and can't afford any more!!!! We have managed to stay busy doing nothing but not getting anything done. We also had some birthdays!! September and October are busy months for that. I had a birthday the 29th, Whitni had one the 30th of September and then Torey had one the 7th of October. Wow!!!! Whitni is 4 years old and big and Torey is 6 years old. Where did my babies go? As Whitni says they are all gone. They are all big now. It is great to have kids that are independent, but I miss my little ones who climb up on my lap and need me to put them to sleep. Well, I got you up to date a little more. I will have more real soon when we have Thanksgiving and have a house full of people. More later!!! Take care and enjoy the Brown Family times.

I'm so behind that I'm ahead!!! YEAH!!!

Where did August go? We are 4 weeks into school and the quarter is almost over. I'm a bad mom. I haven't taken pictures lately and haven't even been home with the kids. Mark is working again and that is nice. The is pay is low but we will take any money. Anyone have any extra money? Please send it our way. I need to get pictures of Brynne playing her flute. She is in beginning band this year and in choir again. I will try and take pictures this long Labor day weekend. It is already September. Oh no!!! That means it is time for Birthdays to start in our family. Get ready!! Here come the birthday people. These pictures are old ones I found and thought were real cute. The kids are real little so they are real old. Enjoy the old pictures and hopefully new ones will come after the Labor Day weekend. Have a great and safe Labor Day weekend!! Love, Laurie

The First Day of School

It is the first day of school and we are walking to school. The whole family walked Brynne, Morgan, and Torey. We dropped Torey off in his Kindergarten class first. He is excited to have Ms. Ferree and really likes school. Morgan was the next to be dropped off. She is in 3rd grade and has Brynne's old 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Milot. Brynne was the last to be dropped off. She is in 5th grade and gets her teacher from 4th grade again, Mrs. Shield's. After dropping them all off Mommy and Daddy and Whitni went walking around the big block. That is the morning routine. Whitni thinks it is great having the house all to herself with her parents. She entertains herself and talks to herself all day.
Daddy is still looking for a job and still working f
rom home part time for Choice Hotels. We are
almost done with one week of school.
Wow!!! Where does the time go?

Happy July!!

Well we are on the down hill side of 2008. Where has the year gone? We spent the 4th of July in Cottonwood with my parents. Mark went canyoneering, hiking, rappelling and roughing it for the 4th. He went out with Glen Tenniswood, and Mark Tenniswood for the day and it turned into the night and the next day. The kids and I watched the fireworks from my parents backyard. It was great!! We ate the steaks and had homemade ice cream and thought about daddy sleeping on the ground with the bugs and creapy crawly things. I will try to attach some pictures of Mark's trip. I'm getting excited because school is about to start. We start July 28th and it can't come soon enough. We are buying new clothes and school things. The kids don't understand why mommy is getting excited. I will only have one kid at home during the day. Well, 2 if you count my husband. He is still without work and I'm ready to farm him out. I'm actually going to be working 3 days a week for a while to try to bring in more money. The money tree doesn't do real well here in hot, dry Arizona. The leaves are falling off and not growing back.

We are alive, but not very exciting

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We are back, but nothing very exciting has happened to us. It is very hot and we are living in the swimming pool and trying to stay cool. If any one has any ideas on how to stay cool please let us know. I'm trying to keep the kids out of trouble. When does school start? Please tell me it is real soon. Mark is trying to find a job. Does anyone know of a Database computer or any computer job that he might be qualified to do? Please let us know. I'm ready for him to go back to work and earn some money. It is real nice having him home but it would be better if he had money coming in and we could go to a place that is cooler. I'll try to find some pictures and try to remember to take pictures of us in the pool and around the area. Take care.

The Beginning

I'm going to try to stay on top of blogging and let people know what we are doing. I'm new at this and not real good at letting people know what we are doing. So here goes. This is us in Washington state. The kids are acting normal. We are getting ready to leave on our cruise to Alaska.

My blog trial

Hello! I'm going to try this to see how it works. Maybe I will be able to keep everyone in touch with us in nice, sunny Arizona.