Christmas Day

December 25, 2009

After a perfect evening and some actual sleep, the big day finally came. Dave wanted to wake up the children, but I thought if they are sleeping, let them sleep. Dave is harder to keep contained than the kids on Christmas. Love it. We called Grandma and Grandpa Brown and they came over to watch the kids. When we went downstairs Grandma Carlson informed us that Brianna crawled into her bed and they shared stories until it was light outside. We forgot to tell Brianna that she could wake us up on Christmas morning. Grandma said that they had fun. I know the kids love to sleep with there grandparents, when they go over to Browns they get to sleep with Grandma and Grandpa. When everyone was awake we opened the big red sack. The kids took turns opening up their gifts. Kameron loved his bubble gum machine, he would have been ok with just that. Brianna and Kyle loved everything. The day before they thought Santa might give them 10 gifts each, I told them that was probably to much. It was fun to listen to them talk and be all excited.
Brianna's Gifts (From us; Bueatiful Dress, Beads, Shake Playdoh shop & My Little Pony : From Carlsons; Roller Racer: From Browns; Playmobile, I-Spy, Magic dot thing, heart necklace, other things: From Santa; Sour Spray, Hannah Montana stage & DVD, My Little Pony hairdo shop, Barbie I-Pod, Levi's, shaving cream, bubble gum machine, Amazing Alyson)

Kyle's Gifts (From us; Sweater, blue car & trailer, burger playdoh set, Thomas trains he found them at the Giraffe toy store and wrapped them, he could not wait to open them: Carlson's; Roller racer: Brown's; Thomas Coal thing, Thomas, I-Spy, Magic Dot thing, other things: Santa; Car's Track, Transformer, Superman & Batman action figure, Alphabet Trains, Shaving Cream, Bubble gum machine, Suit)

Kameron's Gifts (From us; Fisher Price Train, playdoh, sweater, drum: Carlson's; Car with trailer, shirt & pants: Brown's; animals, Geotrack train set, car with horse trailer: Santa; Noah's ark, cars, Bubble gum machine, shaving cream, diapers, action figures, suit)

Melanie & Dave's Gifts (To each other, Dave- Boise state sweater and remote control car, Melanie- Book "Letter's to Emma", Picture of the temple: Carlson's; Pillows yeah Dave is especially excited, Coat, Hat, Socks, Cute shirt with jewlery, baby stuff, eye candy, Sea salt mineral stuff for my hands from Dad, dad built us all a bueatiful wishing well for outside, Wheat Grinder, Children's songbook, hot potato game: Brown's; Picture of Idaho Fall's Temple, camera, Dave is still shopping: Corbett's apron, spatuala, peach pie filling: Phillip's; picture frame with great saying)


We just wanted to post all of our gifts so we could remeber the day we recieved them. We were so blessed and are thankful to everyone. Aunt Fay also spoils everyone in the family each year, she is an amazing woman. After opening gifts we had a delicious breakfast sugar cereal Kyle chose Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Brianna Captain crunch, Hash Browns, Toast, eggs, bacon, bannana bread. We then went down and the adults opened gifts. Mom and Dad took off to Farrah's and we played toys and rested until 2:00. At 2:00 we went to the red house grandma and grandpa's. We opened gift's there, we were so spoiled, then at an awesome dinner ham, twice baked etc. We just enjoyed each other's company. After dinner Dave had the privalege of putting together the playmobile, it only took about an hour. It was quite a complicated little toy. Kameron layed in grandma and grandpa's bed. I went in to check on him to see if he was ok. He was lying right between them and put his hand up and said I'm fine. It made me laugh. So I went to the kitchen and Kyle, Brianna and I played with the Magic dots. It was another perfect day, thanks to everyone.

CHRISTMAS

Thursday December 24, 2009

When I think of 2009 Christmas, I will think of the most perfect Christmas ever. Seriously I don't know if I would change anything, it was so fun. On the days prior to Christmas I was having a few good labor pains, the kids helped me out a lot. They have subsided. The kids were amazing as usual at cleaning etc. So back to Christmas Eve, Dave suprised me and invited my parents to come and spend Christmas with us. Mom is Mrs. Clause, both her and Dave get so excited about Christmas so the energy was high. Christmas Eve has always been a big party for me. So the tradtion continues. In the morning we went to IHOP with Corbetts and Mom and Dad. Yummy, we got a little nervous when half the restraunt did not have their food. However we ended up with a delicious breakfast the kids had face pancakes and pancakes. While we were waiting we had a good laugh though. Some of Dave's pants are getting some holes in them, so I decided I was going to try to fix them. I started and realized that the job will require a sewing machine. We all got ready in the morning and went to breakfast. Dave set down to wait for a table and got a priceless look on his face. I asked him if the back of his pants just ripped he said no and took off to the restroom. When he came out there was a needle in his hand. I guess when I was sewing, I left the needle in. Opps! After breakfast we went bowling. All of us love to bowl. Dad was impressed with Dave's curve ball. Even Kameron bowled, he won all the kids. Kyle and Brianna are great little bowlers.

Our designer girl Brianna was a little worried that I did not have Christmas earrings so mom tried to get some. After bowling we went to the church and got some awesome present's from Grandma Carlson. Roller racers. Corbetts and the us played on them for around an hour how fun. Thanks mom and dad.

Then it was time to rest for an hour. We planned the agenda for the evening during Family Home Evening. Brianna wrote up the agenda and introduced the evening. It started with Kyle and Grandpa making ice cream. Kyle really wanted that for a treat and Grandma made a batch.



After we had candelight papa Murphy's pizza and a salad.

Then downstairs for a game Brianna planned. We danced to the music and would freeze when it turned off. Great game. Even Kameron would freeze. We got jolley ranchers if we won. Next game was shooting Santa and a red table runner with a rubber band gun. Way fun. Back upstairs for a ornament making party. Dave thought this would be a fun memory since mom and dad where there and then we could have a keepsake. It was so fun. We could not get Grandma and Grandpa away from the table. Mike has been rubbing off on dad. He was really artistic and creative. Everyone made great ornaments.

After ornaments we had a dessert bar and watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" Starring Dale Jolley. Mom and Farrah put it together this year. Everyone choose a favorite dessert. Dave ( chex mix, christmas punch, and jerky), Kyle (ice cream), Brianna (fudge), Mom and dad (Eclairs, chocolate covered cinnamon bears and Jordan Almonds). By this time the night was moving fast. It was already time to get on jammies and do the nativity. The moment was perfect, we prayed to begin and the spirit was strong. We started by watching Luke 2 and then the Children acted out the story, this year Dave had them knock on the doors to pretend like it was an inn. They did a great job. Afterwords we read the why the wiseman gave each gift and shared testimony and thoughts. Dave shared how much he loves the season and how the spirit is closer during the season with all of the services and how we did the white envelope by giving someone the 12 days of Christmas for someone. Grandpa Carlson shared, and Grandma Carlson shared how Grandpa and her feel in love by the Pink Chrismas tree. You could feel Doug's presence. It was wonderful. We ended the evening with swinging in the red Santa bag, getting a plate of cookies with pizza on it for Santa, since Kyle got a letter from Santa that said Santa loves pizza and getting the reideer some food.

Right as it was time for bed Grandma and Grandpa Brown showed up to be with us. Yeah. They went to Roy's for the evening and we swapped stories. Brianna showed them her bueatiful new dress. She looks amazing in it. They got the kids good and hyper and left. I can't wait to be a grandparent!! It is always great to have them. Then the kids snuggled into bed. Brianns got to sleep with Grandma Carlson and Kyle with Grandpa. They were lucky. Brianna recieved a bell from Santa at mom's house. She tied it to the bag so that when Santa came she would hear him. She did not hear him, but Dave did so we snuck downstairs and woke up the kids. Brianna saw him but Kyle claims he didn't, I think he was a little sleepy. It was so exciting. Santa sang a little of "you better watch out," on his way out the door. After he left. The kids opened their stockings. Grandma said that Brianna's big excited eyes spoke a thousand words. I agree, she was so happy. I still get excited when I think about it. Santa dropped a huge load, we wondered if all of the gifts he brought to our house made Santa's sleigh tip over. Anyways like I said before as my eyes are starting to tear up a little, it was a perfect, magical and spiritual evening. I will be forever grateful for this Christmas. Merry Christmas to all

Week in review November 9-15 (DOG!!, etc)

On Friday the 13th dad was on his way back from Bear Lake County from court. Earlier that day he had seen a shih tzu for sale on craigslist. As he was passing Pocatello he called the number and the owners let dad see the dog for a few minuets. Dad bought the dog and brought it home. Mom didn't know (previously mom had consented to getting a dog as a part of dad's birthday). Kameron was the first of the children to see the dog because Brianna and Kyle were at Grandma Carlson's Friday night. Kameron didn't quite know what to think. The next day the kids came home and couldn't really believe we had a dog. (See video).



Anyway, the dog which came with the name checkers has been great so far. he is about 2 years old, potty trained, doesn't really bark, doesn't bite the kids, plays a lot, working out great so far.

Week in review Nov. 1-8

On Sunday the first we wrote Christmas letters to Santa. Brianna and Kyle spent a long time working on their letters and designed them great. Brianna wrote Kyle's for him it was so sweet. Afterward's Kyle wanted us to read his letter. We came to the part where he said he wanted a blue truck and trailer. Kyle got frustrated and said Brianna it was supposed to say black truck. She had accidentally written the wrong color truck down on his Santa letter. It was pretty funny.





On Friday the 6th we went to a ward overnight activity to West Piney. It was a great time. It is a huge lodge with three floors, big kitchen, big great room for gatherings. Lots and lots of beds, a huge slide outside like 40 or 50 feet long. A baseball diamond, amplitheatre, etc. It is normally used for girls camps. Anyway all the kids friend's from the ward were there and they had a great time playing. They didn't go to bed until like 10 PM. The kids usually go to bed at 8. Brianna got to sleep next to her friend Daphne Inskeep-they both slept on top bunks. Kyle slep on a top bunk as well. Grandma Carlson volunteered to watch Kameron. The adults also had fun. Melanie stayed up until like 2 AM talking. Dad went to bed at like 10PM. There were games, food, activities, etc. One fun game was were there would be a balloon in the middle of the floor, then Peter Mcllelan would ask a question, then anyone that knew the answer could rush forward and get the balloon and pop it and answer the question for a treat. It was pretty funny to watch everyone wrestle and scramble to try and get the balloon. Saturday morning dad helped cooked breakfast, he was in charge of cooking ham. There was also eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns with no ketchup.






On the 8th, Sunday, great church day. Kameron made a turkey in nursery out of an apple and some candy. He loved it and had to show everyone-he was so proud and would not eat the candy cause he didn't want to destroy the turkey-it got a little frustrating.

Glurch-Kyle was really good sitting through a funeral this past week so Melanie got him some GLURCH!

Week in review Oct 25-31 Halloween Joe's bday, good cancer news etc.

This week we had a great week COTOBER 25- NOVEMBER 1

Kameron got a little tired and fell asleep on the stairs last sunday. Church is during nap time. We also made cookies on Sunday. The boys love to cook with me, we make bread and all sorts of stuff together. The boys are so fun to cook with. They stay right with me and measure. Every time I pull out the Bosch, they are right there. One day Kameron wouldn't sleep, because he heard the Bosch making divinity.

On Monday the 26th

Grandpa and Grandma Brown came over on their way home from mom's cancer check up. We were doing family home evening-Brianna was teaching us about the word of wisdom and gave the lesson all by herself by holding up a picture of food and asking us if it was good or bad for our body.

Grandma Brown told us her doctor said there was no more cancer showing! What a tremendous blessing! Part of my fast today (Dave) was to express my thankfulness for this news. It still hasn't really sunk in, but it is exciting and we hope in continues.

On Tuesday the 27th

Melanie took Kyle and Kameron shopping with her mom, the kids were so good for like 3 or 4 hours of shopping so mom gave Kyle 50 cents to ride the little pony ride at walmart for being so good. However Kyle saw one of those claw machiens that you put your money in and try to use the claw to grab a prize, in this case a bear. Kyle didn't understand that there was only a chance you would get a bear. He thought if you put your money in you would get a bear. He was devasted to see the empty claw and realize that he got nothing. Grandma gave him a Brownie and that seemed to help. That evening we went to Kyle's preschool for a very fun carnival. His teacher has a train set up in her living room upstairs, no wonder Kyle likes her so much.

On Friday the 30th

We went to Grandpa Carlson's birthday party and had a great time. We went to Breakfast @ Perkins, went Trick-or-Treating at Snake River landing, ate dinner (sweet and sour chicken), did practice trick or treating with all the kids, had a glowstick dance party, and opened Grandpa's presents. 67 years old. Kyle was proud to give grandpa the gift he bought him. Shiny Silver Duck Tape.

After that Kyle and Dad I headed to great grandma Brown's house because we were headed to the semi annual tropical fish auction in Salt Lake. We had a great time visiting with great grandma. Kyle saw the picture of her and great grandpa and asked, "Grandma where is Grandpa?" It made me realize he doesn't know great grandpa at all and I need to share some memories with him. We had a great time at the auction as well. Kyle held our bid card up in the air whenever we saw fish we wanted. We came home with ocellatus babies, longfin bolivian rams, agassizzi, azerus. We also picked up some fish at someone's house and Kyle made the casual observation "Your house is messy."

On Saturday October 31,

Melanie, Grandma Brianna, Hailey and Kameron had so much fun. We went to a pumpkin walk. It was so aweome there was a about 35 scenes of pumpkin cartoons. Awesome then we went to Toy'R' us to look at toys. Then to dollar world to get a gift. It was perfect.

Kyle and dad made it back just in time for trick or treating on Saturday. We went with Farrah and Doug in their neighborhood. Kameron loved it he was going as fast as he could the whole way. Kyle was a firefighter that had his hair on fire, he looked cute. Brianna was our very own Hannah Montana, we bought her outfit, because she really wanted it. She did some extra jobs around the house to be able to earn the outfit. She looked awesome. We have the cutest kids in the world.

Weekly update (Pumpkins, kyle, bike, etc.)

Week in review:

This past week on Friday we carved pumpkins over at Grandma's house. Kameron would not scoop out the insides. Brianna carved with her own knife for the first time. We did not have normal candles to go in the pumpkins, so we used birhtday candles

A week or so ago Grandpa found Kyle an awesome little Tonka Bike. We took Kyle over to the Church parking lot and he rode it right away, no training wheels! I gave him a little push and he was off, no crashes

Kyle played with his cousin Ethan all day on Thursday a Thomas the train extravaganza.

On Friday, Melanie, Kyle, and Kameron were in a minor fender bender in Shelley, we were thankful everyone was ok-and for once it wasn't Melanie's fault-yeah!!

Melanie and Dave met with some students at BYI to see about expanding business ideas.

Brianna swallowed a tooth, but the tooth fairy still came.

Brianna and Kyle painted a bunch of rocks for their fire pit.

Kyle also helped his dad repair the fence.

Brianna almost roller skated by herself.

Mom got vaccinated for the swine flu-since she is in her third trimester of pregnancy.

Another proud moment

Grandpa gave Brianna a little container that snaps with some jax in it. She asked me to hold it, but I indicated they were her responsibility. Within 10 min she had lost the container and was in tears. "Dad we need to say a prayer to find it" I said a prayer and sure enough she found them shortly and she offered a thank you prayer. It just impressed me so much that she thought about it on her own and she realizes prayer will be an important tool for her now and in the future.

Great conference weekend

Conference was great! I particularly enjoyed Elder Bednar and as always President Monson. I liked Elder Bednar because it was just what I needed. I know our scripture reading, Family home evening, and family prayer is not the most meaningful a lot of times, usually because Kameron is trying to climb on someone's head or whatnot. But we are trying to be consistent and that felt good to hear. I was so proud of our kids they sat through 2 sessions of conference and I have to say they did pretty awesome for little kids. Brianna was even asking a lot of questions on the topics, so it really was a joy.

Proud moment

Brianna had a friend over today and they had been playing in Brianna's room and made quite a mess. Melanie told them they could go play outside after it was clean. Brianna's friend said "Let's tell her it's clean so we can go outside." Brianna said no we can't lie. She stuck firm and they cleaned the room. I was so proud of her.

Browns Life

Well Dave and I decided it was time to start writing a journal. So I will start by telling the ages of our bueatiful children and where we are. Dave is 31, Melanie 29, Brianna 7, Kyle 4, Kameron 1 almost 2, and baby girl in the oven.
Dave is the same great man. Dave has his own law office, he practices bankruptcy, criminal law and family law. It is fun to watch him build a buisness, he has a knack at it. Clients are starting to come back, which does not suprise me. He is such a hard worker and honest with people. Full of intergrity adn so much more. Glad to be his wife.He also is such a great dad and husband. Everynight the kids want to wrestle. On Friday he pulled out the kids mattress's in the living room, so they could have a movie party. This week I especially appreciated his willingness to help serve the kids dinner when and help with them after such a long day at work. We also helped Dennis with his windows on Saturday. Great week
Brianna is such a delightful kid, she is in second grade excelling in reading and very obedient she makes us laugh every day. She is our interior decorater and today she painted her toenails green with orange dots, I suggested white but she said the white would fade out with the green paint. I thought about it and she was right. This week she recieved a sticker on her library card to check out 3 and 4th grade books. She reads to Kyle everynight in bed for a few minutes. She is so patient and kind to all of the kids and such a support for Dave and I.
Kyle had his second week of preschool. He is adjusting but starting to love it. He got to make paperairplanes and thought that was pretty cool. He is also a delightful kid. He is our hugger. He loves to give loves. Mom always uses his help around the house he cleans, cooks brownies and bread and so much more. This week I put up around 30 quarts of Salsa. Kyle played the computer and helped with Kam- Bam. Later he got to play with Ethan while we did Salsa. Those guys are the best of friends. Kyle is very creative in how he plays he loves trains and trucks. he plays with his boats and trailers all the time. He loves balls & hitches on cars and everytime he sees one he points it out. This week he saw a truck with 2 on it. He thought that was cool. He also pulled Kameron around on his bike alot this week. He hooks the wagon to his bike.
Kameron is our little joy. One of Mommy's favorite things to do is to rockabye with her two boys. I get to smell their hair, sing songs and show some of my love to them. Kameron is our dare devil. In fact I took him to a bike saftey class and he was going up and down hills all over. The officer said he is a dare devil. I said yep. Kameron is still trying to get us to nursery. We still have to go because when Kameron gets upset and starts to cry he throws up. Tricky fellar. Dave loves when he puckers up his lips and and blows air out of his nose, that is his pouty face. He is so happy. Dave and I love our family and life very much. Life is good