All Together Again

Our last big hurrah before school started was a trip to Utah to be with Tony's side of the family.  It wasn't just the Browns, but aunts, uncles, and cousins from the Burgess side of the family as well.  Everyone came from far and wide (Texas, Arizona, Oregon, Utah) until we were all together again.  It was wonderful to see everyone.  It was fun to finally have the two babies together, as well.

Hyrum is one big boy compared to Miss Jacie Lynn.

It was fun to hold Jacie Lynn.  I almost forgot how small babies can be! 

Grandma and Grandpa Brown were glad to see their grandkids again.

The whole group. (Run, Kemp, run!)

We took a four mile hike to Stewart Falls.  It was beautiful!

 

Hyrum was a trooper and didn't complain at all!  He would make a good pioneer baby.

 

What a handsome guy I married!!

 

Cousins!

 

We stayed at a beautiful cabin near Sundance.

Jailbirds.

It was a successful week up in Utah.  Some other highlights included Tony's bike ride up Provo Canyon to Bridal Veil Falls, ice cream from SubZero (they freeze it with liquid nitrogen), family pictures, a temple trip to Provo, good food, and good fun.  Can't wait to see the Browns again at Christmas!

What do you make time for?

Honestly, I thought blogging would go out the window when school started. How are you supposed to make time to read 1000+ pages a day, much less blog about it? How are you supposed to make time to spend with Husband, make time to do laundry, make time to make dinner, make time to make time to make time to make time to blog about it? Fortunately, while making time to study and practice and demonstrate therapeutic communication, I discovered therapeutic blogging. Just blogging about it is a stress reliever. So, amid all the things I have to make time for, blogging is going to be at the top of the list, even if I have to do it at 9 o'clock, after The Boy is fed and I still have homework to do and I'm missing Husband.

Let's move on...

Embarrassing moment of the day: being whistled at, promptly followed by a "Hey sweet thang!" as I walked to the lightrail this morning. Someone please tell Tony there are more appropriate ways to express love. (Note: even if it was totally embarrassing, I was glad to know he loves me.)

I feel like I accomplished a lot today. That's not always easy, even when you have a lot that NEEDS to be done. Have I ever explained the phenomenon that exists within my brain? "Accomplishing a lot" has nothing to do with the number of tasks I complete, but the proportion of tasks I complete. If all I need to do on a particular day is shower, read my scriptures, and love my boys, and I do all of that, I've "accomplished a lot." If on another particular day I need to shower, read my scriptures, love my boys, read 1000+ pages, catch up on laundry, clean the bathroom, go grocery shopping, call the in-laws, take the truck to the shop, go to a doctor appointment, bake a cheesecake AND get to sleep before 11, and I complete 6 of those tasks (twice as much as the first particular day, but only half of the total number of tasks) I have "accomplished nothing!" Luckily, today was one of those high total tasks, high proportion kind of days.

Tomorrow is lab day. Bring on the vital signs, bedpans, and catheter care! That means I get to wear my awesome scrubs and be gone all day. Hyrum gets to go to Jo's house. I'm grateful that I leave him with Tony and Tony is responsible for taking him to Jo's. I don't think I could do it. I hate that I have to leave Hyrum for so long, but I'm grateful for everyone who helps us out. I want to finish my education. The high school valedictorian can't be a college drop out, right? Right.

I guess that's enough for today. I can only make so much time. The end.

100 Things

Eternally Brown, the blog, was born on Oct. 17, 2009. If you'd like, you can read the cheesy goodness from way back then. That was almost two years ago... What. The. Heck?

So, a little less than two years later, we're writing our 100th blog post. It's a big deal...if not to you, it is to me. It's kinda like in kindergarten when you finally learn to count to 100 and you celebrate with a day of 100 things. You bring a little ziploc with 100 pennies you counted all by yourself. You get to glue 100 Cheerios to a piece of paper. Like I said. Big deal. [Just as a side note, I think the phrase "big deal" has been meandering its way into my blogging vocabulary quite a bit in the last few weeks. I apologize. I can't help it if everything is a big deal.]

So how do you celebrate 100 blog posts?? Pennies and Cheerios or should it be a little more up-scale? I don't know... Quarters and Fruit Loops? I think we'll stick to a regular update. That's what you get when I blog from downtown Phoenix.

Jeri Lin: I'm loving the nursing program. I feel special walking around in my scrubs, even if the pants are white and I'm terrified of sitting in something. My "learning community" (D1 and Only) is really fun. We're all young girls, although I have to admit... I feel really old in comparison, since I'm married with a baby. Ruth is our faculty member. She's a lot of fun. Blunt. Tough. Fantastic. It's going to be a fun semester.

Tony: Seminary is harder than he expected. It's one thing to walk into someone's class and teach for two weeks and a-whole-nother ballgame when you have two classes of your very own. He's doing a spectacular job, learning a lot, and we're looking forward to the student teacher in-services. I'm even invited to some of them. :)

Hyrum: He's rolling rolling rolling! He finally figured it out. It's a lot of fun. He's a well behaved boy for Daddy and Grannie and the other baby-sitters while Momma is at school. We love that he's such a happy boy!

One step at a time.
One blog post at a time.

Pucker Up!

When life gives  you lemons...

 

...pucker up!

Smile and Say Cheese!

Part of our trip to Utah this month included family pictures.  The same gal who did our pictures in November took them.  We were happy with the results again. 

More adventures from the Utah trip soon to follow.

Big Day

Today was a big day. First day back to school in eight months kind of big. First day of upper division nursing kind of big. First day for Hyrum and Tony to be on their own for an extended period of time kind of big. Tony's first get up early, watch the boy, drop him off at Grannie's, teach seminary, drive straight to Home Depot, close at Home Depot, and try to get some sleep before we start all over at 5:00am kind of big.

It was also a hot day. I think I got a sunburn from walking to and from the lightrail. Blue eyes, fair complexion, I don't care. It's just too hot and the sun is too harsh for any living soul to be outside.

So, a few highlights of the day before I hit the sack...

1. A friendly reminder in my scripture study this morning to "Cast not away therefore your confidence" (Hebrews 10:35. School has always been the right decision. Just because it's about to get really difficult doesn't change that fact.

2. Hyrum was "a perfect angel" for Dad and Grannie.

3. The lactation room on campus actually isn't all that bad. It did the job. I love my WIC breast pump. Portable, mine to keep, and totally free.

4. Getting out of class a half hour early.

5. Talking to Husband for most of my ride home. He's spectacular, in case you didn't know.

6. Seeing my little boy again. Getting him to smile and giggle and knowing he didn't change too much while I was gone.

7. (A preemptive highlight) Getting to crawl into bed with Husband.

We're going to have nothing but big days from here on out. Three and a half months until Christmas vacation. We can handle it.

A Perfect Life

I hope we don't ever pretend to have a perfect life. We certainly don't. Take this morning for example...

It started perfectly. We got up early. Husband went for his run. Hyrum slept in so we were able to eat breakfast without little fingers dipping themselves in syrup. We got ready for the day in peace. Brother Moon, the seminary pre-service trainer came by for a home visit. It went really well. We love Brother Moon. It was fun to sit and chat with him about how life is going and where we see the future taking us. PERFECT morning.

After Brother Moon left, Hyrum and I took Husband over to the seminary so that we could have the car for running errands. Hyrum, according to plan, fell asleep and that's when things started to go wrong. We went to the WIC office to get a breast pump. It's a necessary item with school starting this week. Unfortunately, they were out. They expect a new shipment any day, but really? Couldn't I have called to check before driving all the way over there?? Oh well...

THEN..."Oh! What a cute baby! How old is he? Here, let me wake him up for you by squeezing his foot." Yes. Thank you. That's exactly what I wanted you to do. I make my way out to the car and start driving toward ASU. I need to find the building where I buy my UPass. This is when Hyrum realizes, "Wait a second...I'm in my car seat. I don't like my car seat." (This is a new development. An unfortunate one.) So, he's wailing as I drive all around and in circles trying to remember where the parking and transit office is...

We finally get there and find a parking meter around the corner because all the ones right in front are taken, of course. I get the sun shade up, pull Hyrum, who immediately ceases his punkishness, out of his car seat, scrounge for some quarters and realize that the meter is broken. Lovely. I put Hyrum back in his car seat (he wails), get back in the car, pull the sun shade down, and look for another parking spot.

We walk around the corner, in the blazing 100+ heat, to discover that the line for parking and transit is out the door. Cursing ASU and everyone else who waited until now to get their stupid, overpriced parking passes, I get in line, just in time to realize that I have a bona fide poop explosion on my hands. It is exploding out the front AND back! What a lovely adventure to have when the only bathroom anywhere close reeks of harsh cleaning chemicals, is hotter than Hades, and doesn't sport a diaper changing station...

P.S. WIC just called. The pumps are in.

So, we finally make it back in line. I have sweat running down my back. My hair is sticking
to my neck. Then, I realize... I forgot to put deodorant on. Great. The appetizing aroma of body odor and baby poop. We wait and wait and wait in line, just so I can sell my soul to the to the Sun Devils.

We finally finish, find our way to the car. Hyrum loves hates being put back in the car seat. The cherry on top could have been a parking ticket for exceeding the time on the parking meter, but I don't like cherries and Heavenly Father knew I could only handle so much this morning...

So...perfect life? Hardly. Ability to laugh about it? Intact, but only after getting home, bathing my little boy, feeding him, putting him down for a nap, and showering myself. That's when I realized it was funny and therefore, worth blogging about.

Life isn't perfect, but it is good. You can let it make you bitter or better. I choose to be better.

Met in Nauvoo Day

Two years ago yesterday, Husband and I met in Nauvoo.  Who knew that this...

 

Would turn into this...?

Yesterday was a crazy day.  Between seminary, grocery shopping, mutual, scout meetings, and a sick Hyrum, we might have seen each other for a total of an hour.  I love Husband, though.  I'm so grateful for him.  He does so much to serve me.  He hardly ever gets mad at me, even when I want him to.  He makes me laugh.  I'm so glad I found him in the most unlikely of places.

It's a Hard Life

Things have been a little crazy this past week or so. Crazy crazy.

First of all, we have a Utah trip on the horizon. In preparation I've been running all over town looking for something I can wear for family pictures. I hate shopping, especially when you're looking for something specific. How come you can never find it? Anyhow...after scouring the mall and every other little shop between my place and Timbucktoo, I've decided I'll just wear something I already own. Lame. I know.

In addition to that drama, Husband has been scrambling to get everything ready for his first day of school. We fly in the evening before he officially starts teaching seminary at Mesa, so everything has got to be in perfect order. Hyrum and I have been helping as much as we can. It's been fun to decorate his classroom. (We'll post pictures soon. I think it looks great.) Husband has been busy busy busy between all his seminary stuff and Home Depot. He can't wait for the day when he only has one job, but he concedes that two jobs is better than no job and Home Depot is better than sitting at home looking for a job.

On top of all that, I've been trying to get everything ready for school. It's kinda depressing to spend $1000 on books, especially when you still have more books to buy and you just spent $200 on scrubs and there's a supplemental tuition for all nursing students and...and...and... Luckily, my in-laws decided to spoil me. As an early Christmas/Anniversary present, I got an iPad. I love it. I'm excited that I can tote it around instead of a laptop. It's also fun for doing things like say...updating your blog?

Then, if that's not enough, the A/C at our apartment broke. We woke up yesterday morning swimming in our own sweat. Delicious. I went to my mom and dad's house to escape the heat and Tony spent the day at the seminary. Unfortunately, we thought they fixed it, but ended up driving back out to my mom and dad's house at midnight because it was so blazin hot. All I can say is they better fix it soon because I have to pack for Utah and I ain't doing it when it's 100 degrees INSIDE my house. And hooray for having family nearby and teenage siblings who are awake at midnight to unlock the front door.

Mr. Hayden

I found this picture the other day and it made me smile.

I hope Hayden and Hyrum grow up as good buds.  I know Hayden is one of MY best buds.  He's got an infectious amount of energy and happiness.  He's a sweet little booger.