HaPPy 5Th BirTHdaY, my sweet KASHLI!

You are such a good big sister; your sisters adore you. Thank you for challenging me and making me a better person, and thank you for your enthusiasm for life. Thanks for being my shopping buddy. Daddy loves that you are HIS girl. We are so blessed to have you in our life . . . Tucker and I thank our Heavenly Father for you every night and pray for your continued health, desire to choose the right, and growing testimony of Jesus Christ. We LOVE you so much! You are 5 years old!
Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Brown who hosted and awesome party!
Kash and her Uncle Cary--she LOVES her Uncle Cary!

Kellen & Kashli share a birthday a year apart . . . little did I know when I visited Perianne in the hospital the day Kellen was born that a year to the day I would be in the same hospital delivering myself!
Making a serious wish!
The WHOLE fam
Me and My Birthday girl
Daddy
Cali girlie

Carly claimed this gift as her own

I am NOT a Runner . . .

. . . in college I took a jogging class and really got into it, even though I have a love-hate relationship with running. Probably the endorphins. However, I wasn't smart and overdid it, permanently damaging my Achilles Tendon. I remember I even ran to the Doc's office when it was to be examined!? I always have problems with it when I run, but yeah, I know--excuses excuses. Anyway I usually like to train for the BolderBoulder for a couple of months just because I really hate running and it just pushes me to do something I hate, but yet still conquer it, you know? And the BolderBoulder is just a really sweet race. Now Tucker, he is a runner. He won't even train at all and he will run the 6.2 miles with me no problem. He ran a marathon with like 2 weeks of training a few weeks after he came home from his mission! That is just incredible to me. I am not a runner. But I have been teasing Tucker that he is gonna be sucking serious wind this time around . . . he is getting to be an OLD man and he has not been training with me. He's only been hitting the weights, while I am doing both the weights AND running! I'll let you know how it goes . . . I will probably kick his trash! ;)

Girlies . . .

WHAT'S NEW

We hired a consulting company to grow and better the business, as well as get our taxes and accounting in order. The good thing is that I am no longer putting in the hours I used to! It got to a point where I said, "OK, do I want to be a Mom or help run a business?" The bigger the business gets, the less I can handle, especially with our family getting bigger! There have definitely been some bumps in the road, but so far, so good. I can truly say that it has been an enlighting freedom. At first I was fighting to give away some control, but ironically we have now put ourselves in an even better position of control with that initial loss. Hopefully things will continue to get better--I KNOW that we have been so blessed so far. I have so much to be grateful for . . . especially my FAMILY. I have really begun to enjoy my children on a new level with all the change. Most of all I am grateful for the specific guidance and direction our little family has been given. I just know that when you strive to do what is right, and FIX the wrongs, you are taken care of. Things may not be perfect, but you make it through--with a smile! P.S. updated pics to come . . . it's been a while

Maybe we changed our minds . . .

So, long story short . . . we are now going to build another house HERE in Cheyenne, down the street--IF we ever sell this one. It's a LONG story. But we are excited!

Happy Easter (although we don't LOOK too happy . . . )

We are MOVING . . . (Maybe!)

So we are hoping to move to Fort Collins, although we have yet to find a house there! The first question everyone always asks is, "Are you still doing Brown Boy's?" YES! Of course we are, Tucker will just commute for the next little while until it is running smoothly with the new managers and office people we have hired! We love Cheyenne, but we are ready for a CHANGE. Tucker has lived here his whole life and I am just used to moving (I moved every couple of years growing up!) and we LOVE Fort Collins. I have my babies there, we shop there, we go there for date night, we go there for any excuse, we go there we go there. So, if we can sell our house (sniff, sniff--I LOVE our house), then we will move. Happy to stay . . . happier to go, HAPPY whatever!! I'm easy. Selling is not.

SeE Ya!

I just wanted to let you know we are off to Utah (to Casey's) for Thanksgiving and then on to Nana & Papa's in California for Christmas and New Year's and Hayden & Lisa's sealing! No wind and/or snow for 8 weeks!!! The girls can barely sleep at night (that includes me).

My HuSBaNd! TAG you're it!

WHAT IS YOUR HUSBAND'S NAME? Bryn Donnel (His middle name is SUPPOSED to be pronounced DONELL emphasis on the "ell," but it is spelled like how you say Donald--without the "d" on the end--so it is something that I always make fun of him about!) Brown and he goes by Tucker.
OK here is the "Tucker" story. His older brother, Tron, gave him the nickname when he was about 2 or 3 years old. Everyone in the family has called him Tucker his whole life. When I first ever met him, he was introduced as "Tucker." After knowing him about 3 or 4 months he showed me his "twin brother's" drivers license whose name was Bryn. I don't know if he was trying to see my reaction to his real name, or what? But I met him as Tucker, and so he is "Tucker" to me. MY Tucker.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN MARRIED TO HIM? 6 1/2 years. I met him when I was 17 so we have been friends for almost 10 years.

HOW LONG DID YOU DATE? Counting from the first time we kissed . . . 8 months.

HOW OLD IS HE? 31!! He is OLD.

WHO IS TALLER? I have never been known for my height--definately HIM.

WHO CAN SING BEST? Me. He is hilarious to listen to, though. He makes up his own lyrics and songs and even sings in different languages.

WHO IS SMARTER? Me. Him. Me. Him. I don't know, it depends. He has "street" smarts.

WHO DOES LAUNDRY? Me. He ruined the whites when we were first married and I have done it ever since.

WHO PAYS THE BILLS? Me. But he's the money maker.

WHO SLEEPS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED? Him. I have this thing that HE has to sleep the closest to the bedroom door so that if a robber came in and tried to attack they would attack and/or kill HIM first and not notice me. Nice, huh?

WHO MOWS THE LAWN? Who do you think? That's what he does for a living. Although I did do it when I was 9 months pregnant as I was trying to induce labor. I wouldn't reccommend it. Ever.

WHO COOKS DINNER? Me. I am unaware there is an option. Tucker made macaroni and cheese out of the box (WHOLE GRAIN, of course) the other night. As I was rushing out the door he asked me several questions to which I responded, "All the instructions are on the box honey, everything is on the box!" When I came home Kashli was in tears and crying hysterically that she was STARVING because she hadn't eaten dinner because Daddy did NOT make the macaroni right. Somehow he added triple the amount of milk (SOY milk, of course)and she was utterly disgusted and NOT impressed with his cooking skills.

WHO IS THE FIRST TO ADMIT THEY ARE WRONG? Me. And to point out when HE is wrong. And to point out that I admitted my mistake when are you going to admit yours?!

WHO KISSED WHO FIRST? Oh he did! In Skow's basement. He grabbed my hand first and then went in for the kill. I never ever kissed a boy first, it was against my rules! And DANG it was a good kiss!

WHAT IS HIS BEST QUALITY? He always always puts me first. I AM his priority.

WHO WEARS THE PANTS? And I quote, "Tucker, who do you think wears the pants in our relationship?"
Tucker: "I think it's pretty equal. I don't know, what do you think? You're the boss!" wink, wink

I TAG Aunt Eileen, Jodi, Kate, Denise, Kelsey and Syd . . . and anyone else who wants to do it!

HaLLoWeeN FuN!

mOmEnts wE LiVe fOr!

Carly, Carly, CARLY! 2 year olds are the best to have around . . . depending on the day--

OK more like the moment! They are my greatest source of FRUSTRATION as well as JOY. So I was sitting on our bed trying to nurse the baby and Carly was driving me crazy! She was jumping all over the bed saying, "Mommy look at me! I jumping! Whoa!! I fall down. Mommy mommy mommy!! Look at me! Baby Sali (Cali) look at me! WHOA!! I fall down!" You can imagine how well the baby is nursing at this point. I had also been folding laundry that was falling apart all over the bed. So, in frustration (that means I was yelling), I sent Carly to the nursery to go get a diaper so I could change the baby and have 5 mins peace to nurse. About 10 mins later Tucker walks in the room returning home from work (at 3 PM, mind you! We were heading down to Ft. Collins for FHE . . . I love this time of year when work slows down and eventually tapers off to NONE . . . we are planning a 2 month trip to California! Oh yeah!) and says, "Have you seen Carly?" So in a panic I am like "No! I sent her to get a diaper, you don't know where she is? What's happened to her--it is VERY quiet! Where has she gone, what have I done!" Then Tucker just starts laughing at me and says, "Come here." So he leads me to the nursery and the pictures tell rest of the story. Tucker and I had a great laugh . . . these are the moments!

P.S. Notice that it also involved removing an article of clothing, as usual.

TaLenTS . . .

Can you say "PiCkLeD bEEtS?" LOVE them!

So this is what I did today. I wanted to document this for 2 reasons. #1 To prove how good my little Cali baby is! Who could do this with a 7 week old? AND two other kids (but who's counting?) AND Tucker is out of town for some training. You do not understand how good this baby is . . . she is just a little blessing. NO--scratch that. She is not a blessing. I DESERVED this kind of child. Have you met Kash and Carly? Yeah, then you know. Kashli was a nightmare . . . she was colicky and pukey and nursed ALL the time. I would just cry WITH her most of the time and wonder why people ever wanted ANOTHER child. AND after all that as soon as she could talk and knew what was up she wanted her DADDY. She still LOVES her Daddy. I'm not bitter . . . I am just saying! Thank you for little baby Cali! #2 I think I have arrived. Doesn't pickling beets with three kids under 4 say something about how together I have it? Oh yeah! (Kashli and Carly have drawn pictures and taped them ALL over the house--it is a mess! There are 3 baskets full of laundry to fold. I have not gone to the gym or showered yet and the baby needs to eat. AND there is no sign of dinner . . . well if you don't want PICKLED BEETS, anyway!)
P.S. Thank you to Richard for getting the FRESH beets (just pulled out of the ground this morning) at the Farmer's Market IN the rain. He cut all the tops off the beets to maximize the $10 bag of "fill it up as much as you can" IN the rain. And thank you to Judy for giving me all your tips! :)

KaSH, cArLy and CaLi

CaRLy aNN!

So, you know when you have those moments where your kids are being really quiet, and you think to yourself, "Man, my kids are being so good playing together, they must love eachother so much . . . wow, all those FHE's must be paying off! I have really done a wonderful job raising them and teachi--" and then you wake up and think "wait a second, these are MY kids, they are NEVER this good, what the heck are they up to?" Well, this is what I found as I raced out the door . . . NO CLOTHES and oh yeah, the shiny stuff, it is not oil that we rubbed all over her for the body building competition . . . it is BUTTER!

HaPpY biRtHdAy TuCKeR--AUGUST 11, 1977

Isn't he SOOOO handsome? :)

CaLi'S FirSt bAth!

CaLi DiANe BrOWn June 22, 2008 7 lbs 3 oz, 20 inches

I was scheduled to be induced Sunday night because I was almost TWO WEEKS over my due date . . .BUT my water broke Saturday morning around 9 AM. From noon to 3 PM I only had three contractions, so they put me on pitocin about 3:30 PM. Then the contractions really kicked in. By 11:00 PM I finally got an epidural and this is why the smile in this picture! This is about 20 mins or so after the epidural . . . I am a little embarassed to admit but after the anethesiologist gave me the epidural I told him that I wanted to kiss him!

Cali was born at 5:26 AM after 6 mins of pushing!

Daddy getting a glimpse of Baby Cali . . . by the way, there were a few times during hard contractions that I looked over at Tucker laying on his bed watching TV and thought to myself, "This REALLY is not fair!" BUT, having said that . . . I could not ask for a better friend and support. Tucker ALWAYS thinks of me first and unselfishly gives. He makes pretty cute babies, too! I love him so much.

Tucker and my Midwife Tracie--I LOVE her . . . she did such a good job!

Four girls all in love with the same man! :)

This melts my heart!

Our three BEAUTIFUL girls! We couldn't be happier!

Thanks Nana and Papa!

HAYDEN's B-Day

Hayden and Lisa came to Chey-town on their way to Nashville, TN and we got celebrate Hayden's Birthday Thursday. We went out to dinner at Young's Cafe in Ft Collins.

HaPpY BiRThDAy KaShLi aNd CArLy!

HapPy EaSteR!

Sleepy eyes! We got the girls up really early to make our flight in Denver to go see Nana and Papa in California!

On the airplane to Nana and Papa's! (Don't act like you've never done it!)

Swimming in Nana's hot tub!