My little pioneers!

We had a pioneer activity and took the kids pictures. I think they turned out cute!

It finally happened

The first tooth came out!

One crazy early morning

Adam woke up the other day at 5:00 a.m. I got up to feed him and fell asleep nursing him until about 6:30. At that point he was awake and we came downstairs. When I went in my room this is what I found. All 3 girls had gotten in bed with Trent and were sound asleep. Boy did they ever seize the opportunity!

Where have I been?

Well. . . my hard drive crashed and I am without a computer, a new one has been ordered and hopefully I'll be back. I also have been in Utah for a quick weekend. Trent and I and Adam went to Salt Lake for Trent's grandpa's funeral. You can read his obituary here if you want. It was so nice to be with all our family for that. Since the funeral Trent and I have been reading his personal history -- we did not know he had written one -- it has been fascinating. There is just so much about people that you never know. We just wish we had read it before he was gone so we could ask him questions about it. We are so grateful that he wrote it -- so let this be a lesson to all of us -- keep a journal (or a blog) and write a personal history.

Some time when I actually have a few quiet moments of reflection I will try and write a little more about his Grandpa.

What can Brown do for you?

Julianne (as you are aware) just had her 7th birthday. We have anxiously been awaiting the arrival of a birthday package from our family in Utah. It was supposed to arrive by Wednesday at the latest. By Friday, it was still a no show. As I check the mail on Friday we got a postcard from UPS stating that there was a parcel on hold at their facility addressed to Julianne that was undeliverable because "the address number is invalid/doesn't exist/" HMMMMMMMM. So UPS's solution is to mail a postcard to the same address on the package??????? I should have taped my conversation with UPS on the phone.

"Hi I just got a post card saying you have a package for me that you cannot deliver b/c the address is invalid"

UPS "Yes our driver attempted to deliver that package on Wednesday but there is no 5610 CaXXX."

Me "Did he actually drive on the street or did a computer determine that it did not exist?"

UPS "No ma'am, our driver actually attempted delivery."

Me "That is certainly odd, because although our home is fairly new, the street has been here for a long time and we are the first home past the older homes and the address is cemented into the front elevation in big black numbers. One would have to work very hard to miss it. In fact, I could email you a picture."

UPS "Oh no ma'am, that is not necessary. So you are telling me that you do in fact live at 5610 CaXXX? "

Me "Oh yes, we do. I am not trying to be harsh, but I would be little concerned about driver incompetency."

UPS "I am sorry ma'am but we will try to get this delivered to you as soon as possible. Do you have any other questions before I transfer you to our delivery dept.?"

Me "Yeah, just one. What does it say about your company that when you could not deliver the package you sent a postcard to the same address through the United States Postal Service . . . and they did find my house?"

UPS "(laughing) uh, yeah I guess we don't look so good?"

Me "Maybe next time when you get a package for me -- you could mail it?"

Oh life is funnier than fiction!

What was she thinking?

I bought a bunch of new t-shirts the other day-- nothing fancy, just the plain old standard t-shirt in a variety of colors. On Thursday, I wore the yellow one and noticed a small notch that had been cut into the sleeve. I was a little bummed, wondering what I had caught it on or wondering if it was like that when I bought it and just never noticed. Then on Saturday I was wearing a blue t-shirt for the first time and Trent pointed out an identical notched cut on the opposite sleeve. Now, I was really baffled. That night at dinner, Catherine looked at my sleeve and said, "Oh Mommy your sleeve is cut." Then she looked back at her food and started to grin and stifle her giggles. I looked at her and said,"Catherine, did you do this?" She kept looking straight at her food and said, "No o o o o o --- yes" I said incredulously, "Catherine, what were you thinking?????????" She replied, "I didn't do any of your pretty shirts."

We have now secured all manner of scissors in the house. I was lucky, she only got the 2 shirts and a ribbon belt. . . but still WHAT WAS SHE THINKING??????

Serves me right?

When we moved out of our Sugar Land ward, I had been the primary president for a little over 8 months. It was quite nice to walk away from the busy stuff and enjoy anonymity in our new ward. Four weeks ago, I was called to be the teacher to the 8 year olds. I enjoyed it immensely for 3 weeks, and then I got called to be the Primary president. . . again. At least I enjoy busy. This will be a much bigger challenge for me as it is a bigger primary (86 kids versus 51) and I don't know the kids names . . .yet. On the plus side, I did find a primary website I really like.