Taking our "baby boy" to the Temple

Mitch will be serving in the Canada Edmonton Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.  He will speak in our Ward on May 23, 2010 at 1:00 pm and will enter the MTC in Provo on June 2nd.  We had a great day with him yesterday at the Bountiful Temple.

My Cute Easter Bunnies

Oh how I love my little Preschool bunnies.  They are the smartest and most darling 3 year olds I know.  I'm the luckiest Grandma in the world to have them two days a week and be able to watch them learn and grow.

Girls Getaway in St. George

I spent 3 days in St. George with three of my most dear friends, (Gwen, Liz, and Cathie) just talking, laughing, eating, hiking, and "recharging"!  The four of us served together as the Stake Young Women Presidency for almost 3 years and we became forever friends.

Our Hawaiian Christmas

All 15 of us, including kids, spouses, and grandkids packed up and flew to Oahu, Hawaii on Christmas Day. We had rented a beautiful house on the North Shore and spent one week visiting the Dole Pineapple plantation, the Polynesian Cultural Center,Pearl Harbor, the LDS Temple and Visitor's Center, snorkeling, sea kayaking, swimming and LOUNGING. It was absolutely heavenly.
The trip was a celebration of Kim's official retirement from Physical Therapy. We are now looking forward to new and exciting adventures in our life!

October Birthday Celebrations

We had lots to celebrate this past Sunday when my sweet mom turned 87 years old and my oldest Granddaughter, Maura, celebrated her 6th Birthday. Maura had drawn a picture of herself and GrandmaGreat and presented it to my mom as a birthday present. LOVE IT!


We also partied to celebrate my sweetheart husband who will turn 59 years old this coming Wednesday. These are definitely three of my most favorite people in the whole world!

OFFICIALLY: Empty Nesters!

On Wednesday we went with Mitch to Cedar City to help him move into his new dorm room in Cedar Hall on the SUU campus. He is the first occupant of this brand new apartment and has 3 great roommates..one from Las Vegas, one from Castledale and the other from Bluffdale. I have to say I was honestly jealous of his opportunity to begin his college career in such favorable circumstances, and it caused me to reflect a lot on my fun college years which began in the fall of 1972.

I was feeling very melancholy on the ride home and my heart sank a bit as I entered his empty room to clean up the last remnants of his late night packing spree last Tuesday! Just as I was feeling really sorry for myself, the front door burst open downstairs and in came the GRANDKIDS....hooray for a bustling "empty nest."

Our Super Six

Here's the first photo of all our six grandkids together since the birth of little Brooklynn Brown. She was one month old this week and we celebrated by taking photos of the kids in their 4th of July outfits.

Our Last High School Graduate!

After 32 years of parenting, Kim and I have finally graduated our last child from High School. Hooray...no more PTA, no more Parent-Teacher conferences, no more carpooling! Mitch officially graduated yesterday in a ceremony held at the Dee Events Center at Weber State University in Ogden. His graduating class of 778 was full of great kids who've accomplished so much in their young lives. We are especially proud of Mitch who graduated as a good student but a FANTASTIC young man. He received the Sterling Church Leadership Scholarship and will be attending Southern Utah University in the fall to study Accounting for one year then head off on his LDS Mission. Mitch has been a blessing to us since the minute we found out we were expecting him. He is a boy full of joy and brings such happiness into our lives and all those around him
.

WELCOME #6...Brooklynn Marlee Brown

Brooklynn was born to Clayton and Amanda on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 7:45 am via c-section in the Logan Regional Hospital. She weighed 6 lb. 7 oz and is 18" tall. She is the first baby for Clayton and Amanda and our SIXTH grandchild. She is a carbon copy of her darling mom but DOES have one trait from the Brown family, which is her crooked pinky fingers! We feel so blessed to have another beautiful little child of God to add to our family.

My Grandkids are the Greatest Blessing

id
I love these darling kids more than words can tell! Gwenyth Jean is my Beauty Queen, always the perfect little princess. Bonnie Mae is my WILDene. She is only 11 months but is a girl who loves danger! Lincoln Brown Gardner is the little Cabbage Patch boy in the middle. He's the sweetest, happiest little 8 month old in the world. Noah Wayne is ALL BOY. He loves to make messes and to be outside exploring. Maura Grace, Pretty Face, has just graduated from Pre-school. She's 5 going on 15!

Two 3 year olds in April!

We were happy to celebrate the birthdays of our two 3 years olds this past month. Noah Gardner had a fun Thomas the Train birthday on the 18th of April and Gwenyth Brown had a fun Princess party a few days after her birthday which was on the 26th. We love these two energetic little people so very much and look forward to a great year of progress in their lives.

Gwennie Jean, My Beauty Queen

Gwenyth Jean Brown is almost 3 years old. I have the incredible privilege of watching her and her darling little sister, Bonnie Mae, on Mondays and Wednesdays now that their cute mom, Brynne, has gone back to work part-time at a new hair salon in west Kaysville.

Gwennie is a perfect little lady with impeccable manners and a smile that melts my heart. She calls me "GlamGloon" which is her special verbal version of "GramGoo". Kim asked her to say the blessing at our Sunday family dinner a couple of weeks ago and it ended with us all busting out in laughter when she closed with the words, "In the name of Jesus Pies.....AMEN!"

This girl has me totally wrapped around her finger and she is certainly wrapped around this grandma's heart!

Brooklynn has a nursery!

We are greatly anticipating the birth of our 6th grandchild, Brooklynn Marlee Brown, daughter of Amanda and Clayton. We went to Hyrum a couple of Saturdays ago and helped put some finishing touches on the darling nursery where little Brooklynn will spend her days and nights gazing at flowers and butterflies! Isn't Amanda a cute pregnant girl?

Mitch competed in the Utah State High School Swim Championships at BYU on Valentine's Day. He had qualified to swim the 100 Backstroke as well as the 200 Freestyle Relay. He got his personal best on his backstroke and finally broke the one minute mark with at time of 59:23 His relay team got 5th in State. It was a terrific way to finish out a great four years of hard work and dedication to a sport that has taught him a whole lot of wonderful lessons about teamwork and endurance.
We are so proud of our boy! This a picture of him with his terrific Coach, Craig Bjorklund.

END OF AN ERA FOR MITCH

Here's my 6 foot 3 inch tall BABY BOY in his teeny tiny Speedo suit at his very last regular season swim meet this past Friday. It has been such a joy to watch him over these past four years. He has served as the Swim Team Captain for Davis High this past year and has made lasting friends and lasting memories. We are so proud of his accomplishments and even more proud of the fine young man he has become!

He qualified to swim at the State Swim Meet in the Freestyle Relays and will compete on Valentine's Day at BYU.

WHAT A GLORIOUS HOLIDAY SEASON

I can't remember a Christmas season I've enjoyed more than this one that has just passed- maybe it's because my memory is slipping and I just don't remember any others! We had so much fun and enjoyed our kids and grandkids so much that I can't really express the joy I felt. Heavenly Father has blessed our lives in so many ways. Kim and I just can't get enough of our 5 darling grandchildren and are anxious for the new little grandDAUGHTER that will arrive in June.

Having two new babies in the family this year was especially fun. Kirk's 2nd daughter, Bonnie was a special delight this Christmas. Even though she's only 7 months old, she has so much personality and just lights up the room whenever she's around. Here she is in the new hat I crocheted for her. Annie's baby Lincoln is a chunker at 3 months old, but what a sweet and happy little fellow!!! I just can't stop kissing his chubby cheeks and pouty lips. Lincoln also seemed content to pose in his hat with Grampy Kim.

We are indeed blessed.

FUN AT THE FESTIVAL

Ann, Brynne, the kids and I visited the Festival of Trees and had a ball. The kids lasted for about an hour but we got to see a lot of the trees and the kids enjoyed choosing a treat at the gift boutique. This is the best picture I could get of Jodi's Tree.

Our holidays began with a wonderful Thanksgiving at our house with our kids, grands, my parents and Amanda's brother and niece. This week has been filled with the Festival of Trees where we donated a tree in memory of our Jodi. It got auctioned off to benefit the Primary Children's Medical Center and was purchased by the Greek Orthodox Church. It was a tree called Winnie Wonderland.

MORE GOOD NEWS

Clayton and Amanda just announced that they are expecting a little one in June! We couldn't be more thrilled. Here's the happy couple at our family Halloween party!

University 7th Ward

Kim was recently called to serve in the Bishopric of the Ogden University 7th Ward with Bishop Scott Conlin. We are enjoying our new associations with these young people so very, very much. This past Monday we held Family Home Evening in our yard and had about 60 kids in attendance. We feel so blessed by their enthusiasm and love.