Basketball has begun. So far they have won their first 3 games. Landon is having a great time.


Whitney has been playing indoor soccer the last few months. Her team made it to the finals on Monday but they lost 3 to 2. It was a good game. I tried to take some pictures but it was to dark inside the gym.

Christmas is 1 week away. Yikes!

Visit with Santa

The kids had a fun visit with Santa at our ward Christmas party. Teegan said it had to be the real Santa because his beard was real.



Landon with some of his friends from church.

Gingerbread houses

We usually do gingerbread houses at Gram and Pa's every Thanksgiving but since we left early this year we didn't get a chance. So last Sunday we got out all the stuff and built our own.















Whitney and I got into a little frosting fight.

Baby Jesi

After a long wait baby Jesi has joined our family.
Born Thursday November 26th (Thanksgiving day) 2009
to Uncle Jim and Aunt Amanda Maxfield.
We got to see her on our way back from Vegas. Only days old. She is so cute. The kids loved her! They were fighting over holding her. They are so excited about their new cousin.

November recap

Where did November go? It flew by in a flash. The month started out with Mike running a half marathon. What makes people think running 13.5 miles sounds fun???? Especially when you only have 2 months to train and have never done anything like that before?? He said it was tough and he does not have any desire to do it again. We will see? The race was in St. George so he took Whitney with him and made it a weekend.
Landon's football team went to the championships and after 2 overtimes, sudden death, snow coming down hard and covering the field, they won! Although the season started out rough he ended up having a great season.

Dad, Mom, Lorilee and I went to St. George for a long weekend to relax and celebrate mom's birthday. We even stopped at Cove Fort on the way home for a quick tour.
One morning I went out to go to work to find one of my tires totally flat. Hitched a ride with the neighbor but Mike came home later that day and put 4 new tires on the car (not an expense we were planning on).
Whitney is playing indoor soccer but her team was still training for the outdoor Thanksgiving tournament so she had outdoor practice going on at the same time. Lots of soccer.
The Fabrizio kids came for a week long visit.
Thanksgiving. Did we have Thanksgiving? Now that was a whirlwind to say the least. I should have know things were going to be crazy when I jumped out of bed realizing that if I didn't get my rolls rising they would never make it (we cut it real close). Our plan was to go to my parents for dinner (if you can call 1:00 dinner)then be on the road to Las Vegas by 3:00. Whitney's team was playing in the Turkey Shoot out that weekend. Early that morning we got the call we had all been waiting for Jim (Mike's brother) and Amanda were at the hospital having their baby finally. Which worked out great for us because we were going right threw St. George (yes it would be the third time that month). It just added to the excitement of the day. Needless to say the morning flew by and of course no one was packed for Vegas the car was a total mess and food was still cooking. We finally pulled it all together (sort of) and got to my parents around 1:30. We sat right down and started in on our thankfuls (each person tells 5 things that they are thankful for) who knows what I said I was still felling rather scattered with everything. On came the food. By the time we got all the kids dished up and ready to sit down they were asking for seconds. We finally sat down shoveled some food with kids now running around because they were now done when Mike announces it is 3:30 and we really need to go. Up I jump into the car we go and off to Vegas. We stop in St. George to pick up my mother in law Susan and find out that we can't go to the hospital to see new baby Jesi because they will only allow 2 people into her room. My sister in laws father was not even able to go in. On we go to Vegas getting there at who knows what time? 11:00 something I think. I stumbled in and hit the pillow. That in a nut shell is my Thanksgiving. Do you call that a Thanksgiving? The things we do for our children :).


We had a relaxing weekend in Vegas and pretty much spent the weekend in the hotel room. I wish I could say I was kidding. The rooms had a couch and a small kitchen so we spent a lot of time just watching TV (BYU vs Utah game), reading the paper, and looking through magazines. Whitney ran around with her soccer friends while Teegan ran the hotel with their little brothers. We attended 4 soccer games and ended up in a 3 way tie for first. We all couldn't go to the finals so it came down to points scored against you, we had the most so we ended up not playing in the finals. Most of her games were at night. I will post the pictures of us freezing. I was in 2 sweatshirts my big coat and gloves. It was not much warmer then it was here. We didn't step foot in a casino or even drive down the strip. It was really nice. We will be back in January and May so I figured if we needed to we could do it then. All in all we just kind of chillaxed. It was really nice.













Add in working, school, helping out in the kids classrooms and that is pretty much the month of November.

Sugar/Sweet Free Update

I made it through another day....barely. Man it has been a tough day. This afternoon at work I started thinking this is dumb we don't need to do this, why are we doing this??? Sigh.
The kids are also starting to weaken in fact they would love it if we called it all off. But I won't. I think it is good for all of us to toughen up a little and push through.
Side note: I am still feeling really good. I honestly wondered how I would feel. It is not physically hard just mentally. :)

Sugar Free Update

The first day went really good in fact I was surprised by how easy it was and how good I actually felt. My prediction had been headaches and temptations. I even passed up on Lorilee's birthday cake without even thinking twice. I started thinking this week would be a breeze.
And then today came. I slipped up a bit at work when I popped a butterscotch disk in my mouth and didn't even think twice about it. That is what the biggest thing I have noticed is, how often I reach for candy or snacks without even looking for it or thinking about it. The boys "forgot" and both had a cookie with lunch. I also had to give into Teegan and let him eat the decorated Christmas tree (ice cream cone with frosting) he made at school today. I actually went to help and have to say the sweet smell of frosting about did me in.
Later this afternoon the thought "what should I bake" came to my mind a dozen times. And after dinner I was having a real hard time not getting something sweet to satisfy me.
So, we have made it almost 2 days, 4 more to go......
Overall I feel really good.

I just got this email and thought it was perfect for what I am attempting this week.

LIFE IS GOOD!

Yesterday I went to the doctor

for my yearly physical.

My blood pressure was high ....

My cholesterol was high ......

I'd gained some weight, and I didn't feel so hot. My doctor said eating right doesn't have to be complicated and it would solve my physical problems.

He said: Just think in colors. Fill your plate with bright colors. Try some greens, oranges, reds, maybe something blue, etc.

So I went right home and ate an entire bowl of


And sure enough, I felt better immediately. I never knew eating right could be so easy !!!

No Sugar Challange

A week ago I lay in bed with a lump of cake and frosting sitting in my stomach. I thought about just how much cake, cookie, brownies and sweets I actually eat. I had to admit I think I am addicted to sweets/sugar. I have tried to cut back in the past but just end up making a big batch of cookies instead. I just wonder if I would feel better if maybe I cut back on all that stuff? The bigger question can I really go without it. So, I decided to challenge myself. One week without sweets. That included cake, candy, cookies, brownies, pop and donuts (the last two are for my family).
I told my family what I was doing and they decided they might give it a try also. So here we go one week SUGAR FREE. I will give you an update everyday on how it is going. Why don't you join us????

Sweet Sixteen

I can't believe my little niece turned Sixteen! She grew up way to fast.
The Fabrizio kids got to come to Utah for Thanksgiving while their parents went on to Hawaii. Since Jenessa's birthday was only a few days earlier we had a birthday party for her.


I am always in for a party plus it is not everyday you turn 16 so we had to celebrate.:) We had a great time.



I think the kids always have fun together. Whatever the occasion.

Happy 16 Jenessa!

Back to reality. Sigh. I am just returning from a weekend getaway to St. George. Saturday Nov. 14th was mom's birthday so we decided to go away for a weekend celebration. After a bit of persuading Dad decided to come along. It was so nice to just sit and talk. When you get the whole family together and kids running around it is hard sometimes to just sit and talk as adults. I really enjoyed the one on one time that Lorilee and I had with my parents.
Of course we hit a few stores and did some damage. What would a Brown family vacation be without shopping. It is in our blood. But, I have to say we have been doing it all wrong. Friday we indulged in pedicures and facials. It was awesome! Something I definitely need to do again, forget shopping.:)
We enjoyed some good restaurants and watched some good movies and the weather was nice (it snowed at home). It was hard to leave the sunshine behind.

I am a little slow on posting this but oh well.....Halloween Party

As you know by now Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Each year as it comes into sight I ask the kids "do you want to have a Halloween party?" This year Natalie and her kids were going to be in town so I went for it. We had a party.
Everyone dressed up and looked great. We ate dinner,
decorated witches hats (made of cookies and ice cream cones) with frosting and sprinkles.



We bobbed for apples (it got a little out of control :))




And we roasted marshmallows out in the fire pit.
Everyone had a great time.