My Boy is Funny

Hyrum is a silly guy.  Last night we were at Grannie's and trying to have the blessing for dinner.  He folded his arms and made Grannie giggle, which made him giggle, which made her giggle, which made him...  He was just giggling because he liked the attention.

For Family Home Evening, we started singing "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" and he immediately perked up.  He then would jump every time we said "sun-BEAM!"

He talks so much!  He knows exactly what he's trying to say and sometimes I can understand him, but other times not so much.

He loves his Uncle Hayden and calls him "Hadeen."  They are best buddies and enjoy playing together.  They'll play balls, they'll play cars.  They'll play outside, they'll play inside.  I love that my little guy has such a good bud.

Mother of a Teenager

Husband and I have been Mom and Dad to six children (seven if you count Baby Brown) while my parents are gone delivering Elder Shinkle to the MTC.  It's been a fun adventure.  Husband successfully got the kids to school on Monday.  I've picked them up and shuttled to an orchestra concert.  The house isn't a disaster.  The laundry isn't out of control.  We're doing good.

Except when it comes to being the mother of a teenager.

My sister Keila is a busy body.  She's in high school.  She has a job.  She's the manager for the wrestling team.  She likes to spend time with friends.  And it's been my job to keep track of her.

Last night she had to close at work.  She thought she would be done around 9:30.  I was exhausted and didn't feel well, so I told her to wake me up when she got home.  I remember getting a text from my sister Sydney at 11:10 that Keila still wasn't home.  I also remember Keila telling me (at some point) that she was home.  I asked her if she had locked the front door.

Today I was upset with myself.  Where had she been for two hours after she was scheduled to be off of work?  Why hadn't I sucked it up and waited up for her?  Why couldn't I be a responsible mother?

I asked her this afternoon when she got home.  She said 11:00.  I said, "Not according to Sydney."  Fine.  11:15.  Where had she been for two hours?  She hadn't finished at work until 10:15.  She had called me at 9:55 to tell me she was going to be late. (I checked my phone.  This is true.)  After she got off she went to Walmart to get some dinner and then came home and woke me up.

Seriously.  I remember no phone call.  I'm a terrible mother of a teenager.

Elder Bryton Shinkle

Elder Bryton Shinkle was set apart as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last night.  He reports to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT on Wednesday, December 12, 2012.  He will serve for the next two years in the Nevada, Reno mission.  We are so proud of him!

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I just wanted to share some of my favorite moments from this weekend as we spent our last couple of days with him...

On Friday night we went and did an endowment session at the temple.  As we were walking in and showing our recommends, the temple worker said, "Welcome to the temple, Sister Brown...and this must be Brother Brown."  Nope, he's my stud of a brother.  Later we giggled in the sealing room when Bryton said, "Do they really expect you to remember all of that?!"  We laughed even harder when I told my embarrassing "You're not my mom!" story.

Bright and early on Saturday morning, Husband and I took Bryton to the temple again to perform sealings for some of our ancestors.  We were glad he was able to have "the whole temple experience" before he left. This time, the sealer thought Bryton and I were married, even though Tony was there with us.  Our hard-of-hearing-sealer was a hoot!  When he learned that Bryton would be serving in Reno, he said "Wow.  That will be...interesting."

Saturday was Bryton's 19th birthday.  He was the bomb-diggity and filled in on a Big Boy Mover move even though he really didn't want to.  We went out to eat at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant that night.  It was yummy.

Sunday was an action packed day.  Bryton spoke in church.  He was stellar.  He seriously sounded like he had just returned from his mission, rather than being ready to head out.  I loved how he used personal experience and testimony, supported by scripture application to teach the principle of missionary work.  He talked about how when people would ask about his mission he would tell them he was going to go teach for two years.  Later on he was disappointed with his explanation because really he will be doing so much more than that!  He will be bringing people unto Christ.  He told the story of the woman at the well who was taught by Christ.  Bryton knows that as a missionary, he represents the Savior.  After being taught by Christ, the woman went and shared what she had been taught and invited others to learn of Christ.  This is the goal of missionary work.  To bring individuals and families to Christ and for them to bring others unto Christ.  We too, must share what we know!

After church we had lots of family over.  Grams and Papa, Casey and Jeff, Trym and Emily, Teonna and Luke, Rocki and Brett, Marlene and a whole slew of children.  We ate lots of yummy food and treats and had a great time visiting. The best entertainment came when Hyrum was caught throwing rocks into the pool. Much to our dismay, we realized he probably wasn't the only one who had done it and they had been at it for a while.  There were eight golf balls and a ton of rocks and limes from the tree at the bottom of the pool.  The uncles in all their glory told the kids they would pay them for retrieving the rocks and things.  So four or five of the cousins started diving in the freezing cold pool.  It was so cold they couldn't even finish (and they were being troopers)!  So then Jeff and Trym decided since they put their kids up to it so they had better show them they could do it too!  So they finished it off.  The pool was free of rocks, golf balls, and limes.   We all had a good laugh!  And yes, warm showers and hot chocolate was provided for the martyrs.

On Sunday evening, President Reader came over to set Bryton apart.  We were able to sit together as a family, give Bryton our advice, bear our testimonies, and learn from President Reader.  Bryton was then set apart as a missionary.  We all were pretty emotional.  I think for the first time I realized that my brother was leaving for two years--really leaving!  He is going to be awesome!

We love you, Bryton!  Be exactly obedient and remember that the Lord loves you!  He will strengthen you!

I'll be keeping up Bryton's blog with letters and updates.  If you'd like to write him, here are his addresses!

MTC Address:
Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle
MTC Mailbox #211
NV-RNO 0101
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Mission Address:
Elder Bryton Dane Shinkle
Nevada Reno Mission
1146 Prayer Way
Sparks, NV 89431
United States

Thoughts I've been saving...

I think being pregnant and not telling is the hardest thing in eternity.  Your whole world has changed and you can't tell anyone...

Here are a few thoughts I've been saving:

1. I think I knew for sure I was pregnant when I realized that once again sneezing/laughing was synonymous with peeing your pants.

2.  That moment when your pediatric faculty says something to the effect of "not that any of you are pregnant...that I know of..." And you just want to raise your hand.

3. Sitting through OB lecture getting excited for the excitement and beauty of pregnancy while everyone else groans and talks about never wanting to be pregnant...like ever.

4.  Going into the clinic to get a flu shot from Dad.  Having to check the yes box after the "Are you pregnant?" question.  Hoping he's not too observant.

5. Every time another nursing student complains about being tired, wanting to rolls your eyes and say, "You have no idea...really."

6. Remember the good ol' days when all I was taking were prerequisite courses and I didn't have a toddler demanding time and attention?  Yeah...those days are long gone.

Baby Number Two is on the way!  Baby is scheduled to arrive somewhere around June 13, 2013!

Small Update

Husband:

Husband is working crazy hours.  8:30pm - 2:30am.  It wouldn't be bad except that he has to get up with the boy on the mornings I'm gone for school.  That can be rough.

He made it to the top 10 (out of 51 applicants) for the Worland, Wyoming FM position.  He has another interview on Monday.  Life could change drastically real soon.  Or it could stay the same as it's always been.  We'll see what happens.

He's signed up for 18 hours of overtime the week of Thanksgiving.  Whoop!

He's my favorite person (besides Little Boy).

Momma:

The end of the semester is so close I can taste it.  Seriously.  I have one paper. A few more exams.  A couple of finals.  Three more OB clinicals.  One more Community Clinical (if you can count mini golf as clinical).  Then I'm done.

I'm excited for Thanksgiving, even if Husband is working overtime that week and we only get to spend a few hours at Grams and Papa's on Thanksgiving Day.  I'll drive two and a half hours both ways for that food any day.

We put up the Christmas tree yesterday and wrapped presents and I've been listening to the Christmas Pandora station.  I'm not cheating.  Christmas and Thanksgiving are just two parts of one great holiday.

The Christmas shopping is almost complete.  One more gift and we are done done done.  That feels good.

Hyrum:

Hyrum loves singing "The Wheels on the Bus."  He knows the actions for the wheels and the horn, so that's all we sing around here so far.

Nursery is the coolest thing since chocolate milk.  Baths are also on the top of the list.

He loves balls, all sorts.  Especially the ones hanging on the Christmas tree.

Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?

For those of you who are upset by the results of the presidential election, just remember what Dr. Seuss said:

"When you think things are bad,

when you feel sour and blue,

when you start to get mad...

you should do what I do!
 

Just tell yourself, Duckie,

you're really quite lucky!

Some people are much more...

oh, ever so much more...

oh, muchly much-much more

unlucky than you!"

How blessed we are that we live in a free country.  How blessed we are that we can vote, even if our candidate doesn't win.  How blessed we are that our home is not ravaged by war.  How blessed we are that we can worship our God as we choose.

"That's why I say, "Duckie!

Don't grumble! Don't stew!

Some critters are much-much,

oh, ever so much-much,

so muchly much-much more unlucky than you!"

Halloween 2012

For Halloween this year, we went to Grannie and Pops' Trunk-or-Treat on Tuesday and our Trunk-or-Treat on Wednesday.  Hyrum could have cared less about dressing up (as you can tell in the pictures) and he hasn't had more than half a pack of Smarties from all his wonderful loot (shhhh...he doesn't know).

It was a fun time.  It would have been better if Husband didn't have to work both nights, but oh well.  I enjoyed catching up with old friends and I'm sure enjoying all the chocolate.

Thank Goodness for Visiting Teaching

I love being a visiting teacher.  I love being visit taught.

Within the last few months, I was given new assignments and boy howdy was I ever excited about the sisters I get to visit.  It's been so much fun visiting with them and serving them and loving them.

One sister in particular has three kids under 4, a husband in med school, and is getting her master's in nutrition online.  She's completely crazy in my book, but I'm crazy too, so I understand where she's coming from.  

Once, as I was giving her the lesson on the importance of serving one another, I joked that I didn't know how to meet her needs because what she needed was more time and I don't have any time to give.  It took my genius husband to find the solution...trading kids for a couple of hours every week.

So, for the past month-ish we've been trading kids.  We each get more done in 2 hours with no kids than we would in 4 hours with kids, so it works out.  And let me tell ya...today I needed it.  

I woke up at 4:30 with leftover stomach bug from last night.  Too bad.  I had to be at clinical.  I thought I would be ok, until I was getting report and felt all sweaty and lightheaded and had to excuse myself.  I made it, though.  I took a little break, toughened up, and made it the rest of the day.

When I got home I thought I would be able to relax, get some studying done, and enjoy my boys.  Except that I forgot Husband was leaving for a campout, which meant that I needed to rush to the grocery store so that I could feed us for the next few days.  But on my way to the grocery store I remembered that I needed to water my neighbors flowers because she's trusting me to not kill everything while she's gone to her mother's funeral.  Seriously.  That is stressful.  So, the flowers made me late and I thought I lost my chance to take Hyrum to Mary's but she said, "No, bring him over!" and I breathed a sigh of relief as he ran into her house without any care that I was going to leave him there.

Homework got done.  Dinner got made.  My stress level decreased by leaps and bounds.  Thank goodness for visiting teaching.

In other news, Hyrum now purposely moves his bike so that he can climb on top of the speaker and play with the light switches.  Oh boy...

Devil Dash

Dad and Bryton had been planning to run the Devil Dash for a few months.  It's a 5k mud run with about 10 obstacles and lots of mud.  I really wanted to go watch and to get some good pictures of them.  That morning, Tony decided to join them spur of the moment.

BEFORE

DURING

THE FINISH LINE

The boys sure had a lot of fun and we had quite a few laughs.  I was glad I could watch them, and especially glad that my car stayed clean, despite all the mud.

More from Fall Break

The best part about Fall Break was getting the undivided attention of Grandma and Grandpa Brown.  They always make us feel so loved/spoiled.  Because Kemp, Whitney, and Jacie came down with a killer stomach bug, we didn't even have to share with them!  [However, we would have much rather shared, because we love those guys to pieces too!]

Hyrum spent lots of time in the back yard with Grandma.  She would take him out there whenever his little self desired.  Now he thinks he's being mistreated because Mom and Dad just don't have as much time as Grandma did.

Grandpa always loves to chase Hyrum and tickle him and make him squeal.  They had a real fun time doing that.

We're so glad the Browns came to visit.  We can't wait to see them in December!

Jack-O-Lantern

We're not much into Halloween around the Brown house.  I think Halloween is one of those holidays where you're a fanatic or you're absolutely indifferent.  I fall into the latter category.  The ward trunk-or-treat is enough for me.  No decorations, no pumpkin pie (no pumpkin flavored anything for that matter), and jack-o-lanterns are just a lot of work.  Well, except for when you have an 18 month old and you think that a jack-o-lantern would be much appreciated.  So, the Browns carved a pumpkin for the first time this year.

We had a lot of fun, and it helped that we picked out a little pumpkin and therefore less guts...  And my favorite part was trying to get a family picture with our lovely pumpkin.  I love it when my boys look stoned.

Kiwanis Park

While the Browns were in town, we headed over to Kiwanis park and rented a double surrey.  It had four sets of pedals and a perfect little seat to strap Hyrum into.  We were surprised how much work it was to move that thing, but we had a lot of fun.  We laughed and chatted as we rode around the park on a beautiful day.

And we made sure to stop and feed the ducks and pigeons...because there are always pigeons.

It was a fun little adventure.  Definitely a must do on a beautiful day in Tempe!

Bryton's Mission Call

Bryton got his mission call.  It came on Friday.  He was so excited!  We were so excited!  We've been waiting for this day to come along...

He has been called to serve in the Nevada Reno Mission, speaking English.  He reports to the Provo MTC on December 12, 2012.  He has 52 days to be ready to go!  His mission covers most of the state of Nevada, some of northern California, and a small piece of Utah.  If you want to learn more about his mission, you can check out the mission blog.

Signed by the prophet, Thomas S. Monson.

Congratulations, Elder Shinkle!  You're going to make an excellent missionary.  We're so excited for you!  Serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength!

Schnepf Farms

Grandma and Grandpa Brown are in town for October break and we are just party party partyin'.  We're so glad they came.  We love them so much.  We love playing board games and laughing and eating.  Hyrum gets spoiled by Grandma, who takes him outside whenever his heart pleases him.  And that's a lot.

On Friday night we went out to Schnepf Farms.  We had never been before and were very impressed.

I think I made a great pig and Hyrum is the cutest cow I ever did see.

They had all sorts of little carnival rides and games.  Hyrum really liked the big slides.  The older folks watched a BMX stunt show while Hyrum and I rode the Bee ride.

They had a corn maze that we successfully got lost in.  Their corn puts ours to shame.

Hyrum wasn't too sure about the petting zoo.

Pumpkins were a big hit.

Grandma's favorite part of the whole night was giving Hyrum his first horse ride.  He had a good lookin' horse named Jack.  He did really well and even gave him a little pat.

Oh and I fell in love with these little face photo thing-a-ma-bobbers.  Hyrum is just the cutest thing if I might say so myself.

The Children's Museum of Phoenix

On the first Friday of every month, the Children's Museum of Phoenix is free to the public from 5pm - 9pm.  We took Hyrum, as well us Uncle Hayden and Auntie Brooke this month.  We all had a grand time!  It was crazy busy, but there were so many fun things to do.  It is tailored to kids of all ages!

Hyrum loved the 3 and under area.  It had lots of things to climb and places to run and things to feel and hear.

They have a miniature grocery store, complete with carts and checkout lanes.  Hyrum liked the bean scoop area.  They also have a pizza kitchen, a fort building room, and lots of other cool things.

This is Brooke and Hayden in the bike wash.  It was pretty cute.

We definitely want to go again!