FHE with Friends

FHE has never been so exciting! We had a great mind-reading demonstration by Gregorio the Great and his assistant, Maximus (did I get that right?) The twosome awed the crowd (the kids) which then led to a great paper airplane making lesson by BJ. The kids learned that without a plan and proper instruction, the piece of paper could not fly. But by following instruction exactly that they'd be able to create paper airplanes. The lesson was great - even if the focus of the kids was all over the place. They had a fun time!

We ended the night with apples, carmel, and paper airplane flying contests off the deck.

It was a fun Family Home Evening!

A fUn HaLlOwEEn PaRTy!

A Quick Trip to St. George

So a couple of weeks ago we headed down to St. George with the Chandlers. We barely got there and it was time to come home, but we enjoyed every minute we had on our mini-vacation.

The weather didn't cooperate with us on Saturday. This was also the day of the St. George Marathon. All our thoughts were with Colby as we knew he was out there weathering the storm (so to speak). It was cold, rainy, and windy - not exactly ideal running conditions.

The kids were anxious to get outside. When it cleared up we headed straight for the pool. The men played tennis, while Kris and I watched the kids swim. We did find a few minutes to hit the outlets, and I found the cutest new church skirt. Love it!!

Sunday made the trip though. We headed into Zions National Park and went on a nature hike. We walked along the riverbed along the steep rocks, found a cave, and took our time. The kids LOVED it. We loved watching them.

We hooked up Sunday night with the Allens for a quick dinner before we headed back. It was such a fun getaway. Too fast, but fun!

Best of Friends in Paradise

Somehow after 17 years, Greg finally got me fishing. My first time actually wasn't too bad. There certainly is a technique to it - one I won't perfect any time soon. It was kind-of nice though going off just the two of us and having my own private lesson. I'm glad Kris caught a few pics of us. The kids had a great time playing. It was a fun day in Paradise and hopefully we'll be going back!

Fishing in Paradise

Tin Foil Dinners

Make a Smilebox slideshow

After church we drove up the canyon with some friends. We'd decided to make tin foil dinners - something I'd never done before. It was so much fun. We opted for BBQ Chicken. After dinner we roasted marshmallows and made S'mores. We made them BJ's way - with PB Cups instead of plain chocolate. They are so good that way. Yumm! I could have ate them all night.

Most of the time we just sat around the fire (that is after we actually got the fire going) and visited. The kids went exploring.

It was a fun night!

Dakota's Birthday Pool Party

My little boy is turning 7. Wow. His actual birthday is this Thursday, but Greg will be out of town. So, we celebrated with some of his best friends last night. We kept it simple - real simple. Mom (me) ordered pizza from Pier 49, and Em made the cake. Dakota wanted the cake to be a surprise. She made him a golf cake. As you can see she made an awesome big golf ball. What you can't see is the "hole" where it reads "Happy Birthday Dakota". Golf is by far his favorite sport. It doesn't hurt that he is so good at it. He makes golf look easy which is so unfair to the rest of us.

After pizza, cake, and ice cream, we let him open his presents (as if he needed any more toys). More noise of the house - thanks to whoever gave him the sword that's super loud. Kris? j/k

We headed up to the Poelmans' pool after our bellies were full and played. They've recently added another waterslide, so we had options!! The kids and the grown-ups all loved it.

It was a fun birthday party! Thanks to all our amazing friends for making it extra special for our little boy! We love you!!

Look who's 38!

All I know is Doug's a good sport. No matter how you look at it. I have never seen a man be so sweet and willing to cooperate with us women when it comes to picture-taking. We went out to dinner last Tuesday night for Doug's birthday.

Doug wanted Sushi - Em convinced him he wanted Texas Roadhouse BBQ. The rest of us were glad for that. We got right in (Em called ahead), and had a wonderful dinner. No birthday would be complete without a few presents, so the boys surprised Doug with some new shoes (BJ picked them out so they were Pumas of course) and a couple of fun t-shirts.
We all had a great time. We love our get-togethers, and a birthday is as good of an excuse as any to do just that.

Welcome Doug to being 38. Now you are finally as old as Greg.

We love you, and happy belated birthday!

Getting to Know You!

The Browns hosted an amazing friends night tonight. Sheena made yummy Cafe Rio pork salad better than Cafe Rio. We then played some fun games. We played a "getting to know you" game (read below), and we quickly found we didn't know a lot about each other. There were a lot of surprises - like Colby wrestling in high school? Or Emily playing the piano? Or Beej actually being nice to his friends? **j/k** Who knew?

We then had to blindfold ourselves and feel the mens' legs and figure out which man was our's. I was pretty nervous. Just what if I didn't pick Greg? How embarrassing would that have been? I lucked out though and chose my man.

Sheena made amazing individual cookies (in trays) for each of us, and we made our own sundaes. They were incredible! So good!

We finished up the night by peer-pressuring Doug into performing his Polish Magic Show and then dancing for all of us. What a treat. He has some amazing talents that man. You just never know what you are going to get with Doug!

Things we learned about our friends tonight:

1. This person used to help (her) Grandpa fly airplanes, like the ones you see at the Provo airport. (Jenny)

2. This person's first car when they were 16 was a Red Nissan Sentra. (Colby)

3. This person's first job was to turn jeans inside out all day long. (Greg)

4. When this person was in Jr. High, on New Year's Eve all their friends dyed their hair purple - thinking it was the wash-out kind - weeks later they still had purple hair and had to cut it all off! (Sara)

5. This person used to hide when being dropped off to Jr. High because their mom drove a pink '64 Ford car. (Darrin)

6. This person was Valedvictorian and Sr. Princess in High School. (Jenny) - and yes, BJ it was a small school - but not THAT small! dork!

7. This person was on the wrestling team in high school. (Colby)

8. This person was baptized in his family's pool in sunny CA. (Greg)

9. This person's first job was working at Penguins Frozen Yogurt as a yogurt scooper. (Sara)

10. This person hiked to the top of Timp when they were 19. (Darrin)
11. This person restored an old totaled Bronco II when they were 17 with their dad. (Sheena)

12. As a leader chaperoning a youth dance, this person was 25 and one of the youth thought they were a teenager and asked them to dance. The spouse said, "they would love to dance with you." Then they were totally embarrassed to find out they were a leader. (Emily)

13. This person was in a car accident where the van rolled 10 times and they walked away fine. (Doug)

14. This person was snow skiing and decided to go off a ramp they had set up for pro skiiers...the landing tdid not stick and the ski patrol went and shut it down right away after they saw them try it! (Sheena)

15. This person has a photographic memory when it comes to numbers. (Kris)

16. There was a tree at the church and they were hitting the tree with a bat and the lady across the street told on them to the Bishop. They had to earn money to replace the tree. Their parents made him and his sister who had nothing to do with it, go door to door selling ice cream all summer long. Years past and the tree grew pretty tall, and they cut it down. (BJ)

17. This person won a karaoke and dance contest on New Year's Eve. (Doug)

18. As a child they played the piano at Brigham Young's home in St. George during a tour. (Emily)

19. This person has jumped off an 80' cliff at Lake Powell. (Kris)

20. This person was always taking care of friends or classmates at school. They would bring someone home and then load them up with food for the walk home. They have had a couple of friends move in with the family. They always wanted everyone to be like family (BJ) - so what happened Beej?

Thank you so much Sheena and Darrin for a GREAT night! We love you!

Neighborhood Boy Band

What a treat. Darrin Brown has a great voice. If you ever get him in a room where Rock Band is being played be sure to put him on the microphone. He was a little hesitant at first, but he totally rocked it.

Our men had a good time forming their boy band. With Greg on guitar (alternating with the microphone), Darrin on vocals, Doug on the drums, and BJ on guitar, they were quite the group.

Like all boy bands, this one parted ways too - with BJ bowing out. He got tired of Rock Band in a hurry.

Kris' Surprise 30th Bday Party!

Well, we pulled it off. I'm not exactly sure how we did it, but we did. Beej had been talking to me about this party for weeks, it wasn't until a week ago that he finally sent me the "hot list" of who to invite. I quickly sent out email invitations and followed-up with phone calls to make sure everyone knew about the party. Originally BJ and Kris were supposed to be in Florida for a business trip. That didn't pan out, so we had to get creative. Instead, they went up to Park City for the night and came back the evening of the party. Fortunately (and I'm not quite sure how) Kris didn't catch on to the party. We tried several times unintentionally to give it away. BJ and I had been texting back and forth about the party. Kris was snooping around on his phone wondering who She-ra (his "name" for me) was. Before she could read the texts, he deleted them. Then, cute Kathy (her mom) called me one evening to see if I'd gotten the pictures for the slideshow. Kris was sitting right next to me when Kathy called. She looked at me in panic, "Is that my mom?" Kathy had never called me before. Kris thought that since she'd forgotten her phone that her mom was trying to track her down. Numerous things like that happened leading up to the party, but each time we dodged the obvious. BJ wanted to do something extra special for Kris on her 30th, and I'm just thankful I could be a part of it. It was a great night. BJ counted as many as 44 adults and who knows how many kids. We had enough food and fun for everyone. Sheena, Sara, Emily, and I rapped "I want to be like Kristalyn C" for Kris to the tune of "We like the cars - the cars that go boom" by L'Trimm. I'm sure only a few of you out there know that song. Then BJ had a extra special version of "Nice Nice Baby So Old So Old" prepared for Kris. She had to sit on the hot-seat while he rapped away. I'm still hoping to get the video uploaded to the blog. It's something everyone should see at least once. He did a great job and the lyrics were hilarious. He missed his calling as a white rapper - that's for sure. We love our cute friends the Chandlers, and we are so thankful her party was memorable! Love you guys!!!

Parties and Easter Eggs

Last night we headed back to Sara and Colby's to celebrate Baden's 2-year birthday. Just look at how proud he is with all the attention he's getting! He was right there waiting to blow out the candles and with a couple of tries, he did just that.
After dinner and cake and ice cream, Sara sat the kids down for a quick Family Home Evening lesson while Em, Kris, and I hid the eggs in the backyard.

We armed the kids with headlamps and flashlights, and away they went. Some of the easter eggs glowed in the dark while the others reflected light. The kids had a great time searching for the hidden eggs in the dark. We decided that this would be an annual tradition.

So the eggs are now neatly put away in storage and await the next Monday following Easter when we'll do it all over again!
Another exciting mentions:

Aftyn had her toes painted for the very first time
Sheena brought her husband - I think his name is Darrin (just kidding Darrin)
Colby slammed my picture taking and blogging to no end

By the way - prove Colby wrong. If you are a friend of a friend, drop me a note. He seems to think the only regulars on our blog are our friends in the pics. I'll show him!

Pics from Greg's Party