Memory Book

I feel like this is kind of a silly thing to blog about but I'm really excited about it and wanted others to know that they can do this. This is my memory book that I created at blurb.com I called my book "O Remember Remember" in reference to Elder Eyrings talk given last November. This book was so fun to make and ended up costing $17 including shipping. It is 80 pages long. There were a lot of fun layouts and receiving it in the mail today was so exciting. I think this is a great way to keep a journal and remember the meaningful experiences I have had. This one was compiled from my church journal that I've kept on the computer for the last 3 years and next I will work on putting my blog into a book. Yeah for technology that makes it possible for me publish my very own book.

Mother Dear, I Love You So

I've noticed that many LDS mothers don't really like mother's day. They don't like being the center of attention and such....but I guess I don't have much humility... and I love a day of pampering and attention from my sweet family. Aaron and the kids were locked into the bedroom last night working on a "project". Today I found that they'd colored a paper doll and each piece of clothing had a note on the back with someone's gift to me. The central gift was a new dress from Aaron. (Thank you Aaron) !! Lizzy's gift was that she intends to do the dishes for me (I guess we'll see how that goes) and Andrew says he'll give me hugs and kisses. Andrew made good on his promise during church today. He hugged and kissed me throughout sacrament meeting for no reason at all. It was a little distracting, but I couldn't bring myself to stop him since I love those little kisses so much. Lizzy also delighted me during church. She was able to go up and sing with the rest of the primary kids this year. She beamed the whole time and did such a great job. After singing she ran down and sat by me again and grinned up at me and asked, "Did that make you happy?" She told me Happy Mother's Day again and said that she was going to do the dishes and clean her room and several other kind but unlikely events. Then she snuggled up to me and said "Mom, I love you." Of course at this point I became irrational and started crying. Lizzy topped off her whole little episode by pulling up the end of her dress and said, "Here Mom..use this" (to wipe my tears). Overall... a wonderful day. Of course - these little twerps make this whole motherhood thing possible for me. Thank you for being wonderful, wonderful kids.

Mother's Day was a good opportunity for me to re-read Elder Ballards talk from this last conference. I know that this talk meant a lot to many women of the church. I am included in that group. Whether you are a member of the church or not...these words are reassuring and beautiful.

There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family. ...... What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else.

Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.

Pray, study, and teach the gospel. Pray deeply about your children and about your role as a mother. Parents can offer a unique and wonderful kind of prayer because they are praying to the Eternal Parent of us all. There is great power in a prayer that essentially says, “We are steward-parents over Thy children, Father; please help us to raise them as Thou wouldst want them raised.”

That last paragraph reminds me of how grateful I am that I am not left to do this great work alone. I would fail so very terribly. I'm grateful to the Eternal Father for showing me how and helping me along the way. Lastly I want to thank the mothers in my life. Thank you Nancy and Mom for....all you are and all you have been to me and to Aaron. I'm impressed by the unique gifts and talents that you have brought to my life. And each of you have left that lasting impression that Elder Ballard expressed, "What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else.." Happy Mother's Day.

10 Years

Yes it's true...I graduated from highschool almost 10 years ago. Our class has a website now for everyone to find each other and let people know what you have been up to. I have had so much fun reading about many long lost friends that I had to put it up on here so any of you beetdiggers that see this can go and fill out your profiles. To access the site click here. And any non-beetdiggers who try to make fun of our mascot had better think twice about that. You never want to mess with a beetdigger.

1,000 Peanut Butter Sandwiches

Have you ever seen these signs at McDonalds that say 1 million burgers sold? (It is now closer to 13 million). Anyway it got me thinking about my major milestones as a mother. Are you ready???

1,000 peanut butter sandwiches made

We honestly have peanut butter and honey (not jam) sandwiches almost everyday. It may be that I am lazy, but really it is usually at the kids request.

7,000 diaper changes

This was hard to estimate...cause you know it's like 20 a day when they're newborns and they poop after every feeding. Eventually...it's not quite so often.

600 times reading "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?"

It was tough to decide which is the most read book in our house, but this one is way up there along with Cinderella, Clifford and any Dr. Suess.

So yes...motherhood can be somewhat monotonous, but you gotta love it.

By the way...did you know that if all the cattle that have ever laid down their lives for McDonald's were to be resurrected for a reunion, they would stand flank-by-jowl over an area larger than Greater London?

Gross. So what are your remarkable milestones?

Slackers

Of all my posts...this is one I really hope my Dad doesn't read. He'd be so ashamed of us. Our check engine light has been on for months. We've been putting it off and putting it off and never got around to having it looked at. If we'd been in Utah my Dad would have had a look and advised us long ago. Of course we were due.... but the irony of having it happen on the way home from the airport after picking up Aaron's parents is just too much. Their plane landed at about 10, but Aaron didn't get home until after 2 in the morning. Aaron's parents claimed to have enjoyed the chance to walk around for awhile and see the city from a distance. Of course...their just nice that way. Kudos to the nice tow truck driver for dropping off Aaron's parents, taking Aaron and the car to a repair shop, and then taking Aaron home again off the clock. While Aaron was at the repair shop (it is also a gas station which explains why it was open until 2 in the morning) there were 2 nice people that offered him a ride home. Isn't it good to be reminded that there are just plain old nice people still out there in the world. Anyway Dad in case you DID read this....we got it fixed and I (almost) promise that it won't happen when we pick you up from the airport in a few weeks.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Most adults are fairly tactful. For example when I ask Aaron...he will tell me... Oh Rachelle don't worry... nobody will even notice those incredibly huge new zits on your face. I appreciate this. Kids, however, are more honest. They really tell it like it is. Here is a picture that Lizzy recently drew of me. I shouldn't have asked...because I already knew, but I did anyway.

Me: "What are those red things Lizzy?"

Lizzy: "Those are your owies."

Ouch!! Thank goodness for make-up!!

I was talking about this to another friend and she told me the less than flattering thing her toddler said to her - so I guess it's just life. It makes me laugh. I'd rather have her be honest with me than say such things to a stranger. (For example when she said about a wrinkly man that we just finished talking to...."he looked like a raisin.") It's true though.... kids say the darndest things!!

Soccer Mom

As you may have been able to tell from previous posts.... I took a trip to Utah these last few weeks. The trip was financed by a family in my parents ward. I used to babysit these kids when I was in middle school and high school. They flew me and the kids home so that I could stay with their kids while they went to Costa Rica. They live two doors down from my parents so I was able to spend a lot of time with my family as well.

The kids were ages 8-17. So this was my chance to see what it is like to be a soccer mom. I took them to piano lessons, made sure they did their chores, made lunches for school, cooked and cleaned, and waiting up for the oldest one to get home from social events. It is a compliment to this family that I think I will enjoy being a soccer mom. I liked the busyness of it. I was busy all the time.... in a good way. I liked that I could delegate a little more. Each night as I was making dinner I asked who'd watch Andrew and usually all three of the younger ones would volunteer. They played together, entertained each other and often my kids as well. I didn't even mind driving a minivan. Of course, another day that week, I was so overwhelmed because I needed to pick up 2 kids at the same time, hadn't started dinner yet even though the oldest needed to go to work in 1/2 hour and Lizzy and Andrew were both throwing a tantrum about something. When Aaron called that night... I said... nevermind, maybe I don't love this. Really though it was great and these are great kids. It made me feel old because I became that adult who just insisted on telling these guys how cute they were when they were little. The oldest was about 2 or 3 when I started watching him. He probably was rolling his eyes while I told him about funny things he used to do. He went to the sweetheart dance and when I asked him who his date was, I smiled and laughed because... I used to babysit her too. The other thing that is kind of funny is that I think I am a curse to the family. I did this for them once before about 3 years ago. They have an older son who is now on a mission. At the time he had just barely turned 16 and gotten his drivers license. While I was the primary caregiver, he crashed his car. I of course didn't know what to do. It all worked out, but the funny thing is that the oldest one this time also crashed his car. I was actually at the airport picking up his parents, so technically I wasn't really in charge anymore, but funny that the only 2 crashes they've ever had were while I was babysitting.

Overall, I look forward to my life in maybe 15 years. Hopefully I will have kids as good and responsible as these kids. Thanks for the adventure.

My Nutty Family

When my family gets together, we sometimes sit and visit and normal stuff like that. Most of the time, however, we just act wierd together like we did when we were kids. I'm sure my mom wonders when we will finally act our age. But we do (usually) have a lot of fun. It gets pretty loud when we are all gathered. Here are some of my favorites activities from our last get together.

Brett loves these team building games. He decided we all needed to play this game where we stand on the coffee table and fall into the arms of the others. It's called a faith fall.

My cute niece, Molly.

Grandpa built a pathway out of blocks... the kids had a lot of fun with that....although.. I
shouldn't just say the kids.Everyone got involved with this game.

A few other random pictures from that night.

Lizzy, Tiana and Molly in the dresses that Grandma bought them.

Eric... trying to hide. He managed to nap through much of the noise...remarkable.Brett and TianaI wish I had a picture of the time that Grandpa was relaxing on the floor and Andrew just came and did an enormous leap and landed on his belly. It was like a WWF move. I don't know where he learned that. I also enjoyed Tiana and Lizzy trying to entertain us at dinner with their jokes. They are entirely NOT funny since they have no concept of a joke, but they laughed so hard at their jokes that we were laughing too. Lastly, Andrew fell asleep at dinner and it was so dang funny. I will post about that as soon as I can get the video clip from my sis.

Banned from US Airways?!?

For those of you who know me.. I am not normally an argumentative or rebellious person, but traveling with 2 small children sometimes makes a person do crazy things. On our way back to Maryland we flew first to Pheonix and then on to Washington DC. The first leg of the trip was pretty bad. Andrew has an ear infection and he cried much of the time. He was whiny and kicking other seats. (It was worse than it should have been since we were sitting right behind a woman who 'had back troubles and couldn't bear the slightest jarring of her seat'.) Anyway Andrew finally fell asleep just as we were going on the second plane for our 4 hour flight. I laid him on the seat and was very happy until a stewardess walked past and told me that he needed to be in an upright position for take-off.

Me: Your kidding?!?

Her: no

Me: I promise I won't sue if he rolls off and bumps his head.

Her: It's company policy.

Me: Please... really you have no idea what kind of day we've had. He'll cry the rest of the flight.

Her: It could cause internal bleeding.

Me: I'm willing to assume the risk.

I mean seriously ... if he was 3 weeks younger he would have been a lap child and no one would have asked... but now that he's 2 years and 3 weeks old....it could cause internal bleeding.

Anyway... I don't know what came over me, but I just decided I couldn't wake him up. So the next time a stewardess came to talk to me.. I pretended I was asleep. (Lizzy was asleep too... thankfully in an upright position.) She asked me to at least buckle his seatbelt, which I gladly did. Soon the plane took off and Andrew slept 2 more hours.

Here was my last conversation with a stewardess.

Her: Can I get you a drink?

Me: Water please.

Her: By the way... we were talking about it and I thought I should tell you that if you refuse to follow a guideline... they can actually take your ticket away and refuse to let you fly.

Me: Okay. Sorry.

So what would you have done??

My deep dark and embarrassing secrets or something like that

I've been tagged. Megan tagged me.. and Rachel had this cute tag picture on her blog and I STOLE IT!!! So...what're you going to do about it Rachel....huh?? huh?? Okay! Here is about me.
1. What were you doing 10 years ago? I was getting excited to graduate from highschool. I was hoping that Aaron Brown would ask me to Senior Prom. I was working at Party Time (see previous post) and as a legal assistant for a divorce lawyer. (Not my favorite job.) I was probably applying to colleges and stuff like that.
2. 5 things on my to-do list today? I am playing nanny to 4 children in addition to my own. (ages 8-17) MY to do list (which was only in my head) included:
Wash kids bedding
Make lunches
clean TV room
call doctor about Andrews ear infection
organize rides to piano lessons

3. 5 snacks that I enjoy: Apples and peanut butter, chocolate chips, any candy, Challah bread and olive oil, Cheese and crackers

4. 3 bad habits:
Checking my email too many times a day
I always spill on myself and get stains on my clothes
I am sarcastic too much

5. What would you do if you were instantly a billionaire?
Pinch myself to make sure I was awake
Build a huge, awesome disability center
Put away money to buy a house as soon as we know where we're living
Give money to my family that needs it
Pick random people to give a car too
Find a homeless person and buy them a condo
Give something cool to everyone that has ever been nice to me
Put a lot of money in savings
Build a cabin
Give a ton of money to the Perpetual Education Fund
Probably lots of other stuff

6. Places I've lived:
Ballard, Utah
Roosevelt, Utah
Sandy, Utah
Logan, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Bethesda, Maryland

7. Jobs I've had:
Babysitter
Receptionist at Willow Creek Pediatrics
PartyTime
Assistant to Marsha Lang (a divorce lawyer)
Executive Assitant to a financial planner
B.R.A.S.C. (a disability center)
KOSH (another disability center)
Intern at Up-to-3
Developmental Specialist for a DDA in Preston, Idaho
Mystery shopper
Online surveys
Full Time Mommy

8. 5 things people don't know about me:

I am very nostalgic and could write a blog everyday about good memories
I like to sleep with socks on
I am one of the few people in the world that don't use a cell phone and don't know how to text
In school I was a good student but often got in trouble for talking too much
I am very NOT photogenic

I tag Jaime Atkin , Emily Phillips and Kaelene Harrison.

Mourning the Passing of PartyTime

Hello!!! I am visiting here in Utah so I haven't posted for awhile. I will have lots of posting to do when I get home, but for now I wanted to write about something that I have no pictures of anyway. As I was driving to the grocery store I passed the place where I used to work all through highschool. It is called PartyTime. I was so sad to see that it is CLOSED!! (whimper...sob...sob). This was seriously the best highschool job ever... so I thought I would write a few brief memories of the good times I had at PartyTime.

This store was busy and popular around Halloween, Valentines day... New Years, but the rest of the time, we weren't really busy. It was perfect for studying, chatting with friends and goofing around. My friends used to just come and hang out at PartyTime while I worked because it was so laid back. When it was really slow we'd break out the kareoke machine or dress up in the items in the Luau section.
* One co-worker convinced me to wear a picture of her latest love on my forehead so that she could look at him everytime she looked at me. (I wore it the whole shift too.)
* Another co-worker and I wrote a book called 101 things to do with a stick.
* I remember how as soon as the boss would leave... we'd change the station from Smooth Jazz to KISN 97.
* Sometimes we'd have balloon tying contests and I'm telling you - I can blow up a balloon and tie a ribbon on it and curl the end... pretty darn fast.
* Our most popular item was beanie babies. (does that make me sound old??)
* Sometimes Pam let us take home store items to sample.... like the cotton candy machine and we had fun parties.

* Anytime a customer didn't pick up an order of balloons, we got to take them home. We'd drop balloons off at our friends houses just for fun. I remember one time picking Aaron up from the airport with a bunch of It's a Boy!!!!! balloons.

Anyway... farewell to you ... good friend. Thank you for 3 wonderful years and wonderful memories.
To any readers of this blog.... What was your first job?? Is it a good or bad memory? Please share.

Mama Said There'd be Days Like This

As noted in the title of my blog I am keeping a collection of happy memories. I decided however that someday I will look back at this and may want to remember what a normal day was like - or even a bad day. So here goes with last weeks shopping trip.

I shop at Aldi's which is a discount supermarket. I only go there every few weeks, so I always get a lot. Before I left, I had the thought, "I wonder if my debit card is in my purse?" (Aldi's only accepts debit cards or cash.) I immediately dismissed the thought because.... where else would my debit card be? While driving there, I had the thought again and believe it or not as I entered the store I thought about it one more time, but quickly forgot about it and began shopping. I filled the cart to the brim and got in the checkout line. I was glad that I was done, because Andrew had been a real pill today - he kept trying to crawl out of the basket and cried loudly when I buckled him in. As I stood in line I thought one more time about the debit card and decided to check. I admit I was not terribly surprised that I could not find my debit card anywhere. My search became more frantic and the kids became more impatient. I backed out of line and continued to search. When I finally decided I was out of options - with a red face I went to the manager and told her what had happened and asked if I could leave my cart. I planned to get some cash and come back. Safeway was nearby. I buckled the kids in and took off for Safeway. I unbuckled kids, went inside, picked up a few groceries and got some cash back. $50 max - not enough. I needed gas anyway... I'll get cash back at the gas station. Uhhh.... this station only lets you pay outside. The kids are hungry anyway..... let's run to McDonalds. (In case you are wondering... McDonalds doesn't do cash back.) I spotted a CVS. I know they do cash back. This time I only picked up one item and told the woman I needed cash back. "Of course" she replied, "but only with a debit card." If I had a debit card I wouldn't be in this mess. I stopped at one more store... this time brave enough to ask before I bought anything if they do cash back. They didn't. For any of you that do shopping with small kids you can imagine that this day was getting a little too long. I finally went back to Aldi's and found my cart which thankfully was still there. I walked through the store quickly putting back about half of my groceries. As I checked out I told the cashier exactly how much cash I had and asked her to stop ringing up items when I reached that amount. To the credit of the cashier - she was so polite and didn't even flinch. She acted like it happened everyday. (Maybe it does.) She only had to put back about 5 items. To put it mildly - I was so relieved when I got home. After I put away all of my groceries - I started to think about where my card was. It took me about 2 minutes to remember where it was. I walked straight to the closet and removed it from my collection of laundry stuff where I'd left it last time I did the laundry. When Aaron got home that night he asked if I'd remembered to get ice cream while I was shopping today. Poor Aaron.

TAG - YOUR IT!!!!

I've been tagged which means I get to put all sorts of secretive stuff about my husband up on the blog. What fun!!! Here goes.

Aaron tried this look for a few hours. What do you think?

What is his name? Aaron Paul Brown
How long have you been married? 6 years (in a few weeks)
How long did you date? I can't give an exact number. We got engaged on the anniversary of 5 years from our first date. That time included high school dances, 1 year of college, lots of dates with other people, an engagement to another person and a mission. After his mission we dated 2 months before we were engaged. (As I side note I think it is cool because I was the first girl Aaron ever asked out.) If my scanner worked, I'd put up some pictures from our highschool dances.
How old is he? 27
Who eats more? Definitely Aaron
Who said I love you first? We haven't said that to each other yet. Actually - I really don't know.
Who is taller? Aaron

Who sings better? It'd have to be Aaron since he made the Madrigal choir in highschool and I only made Chamber singers.
Who is smarter? Aaron.
Whose temper is worse? Mine. Aaron will never fight with me no matter how much I try.
Who does the laundry? I think Aaron did the laundry once when we were newlyweds.
Who does the dishes? I do most of the time, but Aaron helps too. He did all of the dishes after Thanksgiving dinner.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Aaron.
Who pays the bills? I pay the bills but Aaron makes the money.

Who cooks dinner? I do. But Aaron makes the phone call when we order out. :)

Who drives when you are together? Aaron- unless I am dropping him off somewhere.
Who is more stubborn? I think that would be me again. Well - I don't know. Aaron can be stubborn too. I'll call it a tie.
Whose parents do you see the most? As a family - we try to split it pretty equally. (They live 15 minutes away from each other.) We haven't seen either of them for 5 months.
Who proposed? Aaron did - at Temple Square under the very tree where his father proposed to his mother.
Who has more friends? Since we've been together forever we have mostly the same friends. I keep up with old friends though and he really doesn't.
Who has more siblings? I do. I have 4 and he has 2.
Who wears the pants in the family? Aaron has the final say, but I'm good at getting my way too.



As these answers reveal, Aaron is pretty much the better half. (Thanks for making me tell it to the world Michelle). He is a great dad and a sweet husband. I love you Aaron!!

I tag Kim Tucker, Carolyn Hanson and Kalleen Wright

Caught in the Rain

I've resisted starting a blog for a long time now. Finally I have given in. I figure it's a pretty good thing. It's like scrapbooking (only free), a journal (well not quite so private, but it is a record of my thoughts), and its a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. So - I'm out of excuses. Welcome to our blog. This picture is when we were walking home from the Metro station and it just staring pouring sheets of rain. As if we didn't get wet enough from the rain, Lizzy and I got hit with a giant splash as a car passed by us. The kids were shaking, but I was laughing. I love the rain.