Thanksgiving

I have so much to be grateful for. Like so much. It is crazy as I reflect on all that I have in my life. I am blessed. Without naming every person and thing we will just say I am grateful. Each night as I reflect on all that I have I thank the Lord for every thing, at times I am overwhelmed as I try to comprehend it all.

Basketball is underway. We won our first game. I am really excited about my team this year. All the girls are amazing athletes and a few of them are already great at basketball. Now we just have to get them all great at basketball. My parents were in town and came to watch our first game, Nancy came too! They have never seen me coach but I guess I passed the test.

My parents and Ben and Katie and crew drove out and spent the week out here. Talk about blessings. I loved having so much family here. I loved not driving to California. If only I got the entire week off like those educators in California. We played and played and played. I worked Monday and Tuesday but played after work. I am now ready for a vacation from vacation. I was supposed to catch up on sleep. I don't think that happened.

Saturday night after working at the temple I drove to Sandy to see the visitors. I was thrilled that this stinker waited up for me. We played and laughed and two hours later went to bed (don't tell her parents).

 For some reason she felt like she needed to sleep on the single air mattress with me. She has her own but we shared. Not so great for me but she didn't seem to mind.

Sunday we did church, dinner and attempted to do games. These two boys made the games really hard.

 You would think someone was pinching them.

I have no pictures from Monday and Tuesday. Monday after work Dan and I headed to Sandy. We ate and babysat for Ben and Katie. We visited with my parents as well.

Tuesday I hosted everyone in Provo. We had mango chicken rice bowls and hung out. Olivia stayed the night with me. Again not the best nights sleep for me.

Wednesday I dragged myself and Olivia out of bed at 5am to go coach basketball. YUCK! I hate practicing over the holidays but it is a necessity.

After basketball we met up with the family and headed to the children's museum. SO FUN!

 Olivia loved it. She had so much fun. Except for those times when she didn't want to share. Late nights and short naps were definitely a factor in a couple of meltdowns.

 My cousin Katie and Heather, along with Heather's girls, met us in Salt Lake. Olivia loved the big girls. She asked about her friends the rest of the weekend. Good thing we saw more of them.

Cierra carried Olivia so much she was sore the next day. Olivia is half of her weight.

After the museum we browsed through City Creek and the planetarium.

My cousin Heather and her girls or as Olivia believed her girls.

 On Thursday morning Sam and I ran in The Human Race. Olivia and Braxton kept me company while I was waiting for Sam to pick me up. Again another early morning.

 Post race, we did it. Why did I still feel like I ate way too much even after running six miles????

After the race we showered and headed to the zoo. The weather has been amazing this fall.

The girls came so Olivia was in heaven. They all took turns carrying her.

Konner loved watching all the animals. Here is he mesmerized by the polar bear.

 We saw lots of very fun animals. Olivia had been talking about the giraffes all week so that was a hit.

 I love all the big animals: elephants, bears, seals, giraffes, and tigers. On this particular day the Polar Bear stole the show. He was super fun to watch.

 Apparently he put on the same show for Jana and company the day before.....show off!

And the tiger is just beautiful.

Going to the zoo with Katie was awesome because she has a season pass and so you can ride the carrousel for free. That was also a hit with the kids.

  

 Olivia is truly a Brown. No booty to hold up her pants. We were constantly pulling them up all day. Poor girl....I feel her pain.

 Two little boys joined us at the zoo. They were good until they were done. And once they were done they were DONE!!!

We rested and napped after the zoo before the the big dinner. Loralie hosted, which was so nice of her. The food and company were superb.

The girls were so worn out from playing hard all day. They loved that they had their own chairs for the movie.

 Braxton was awesome. He was so happy all evening and let everyone hold him. He was also hamming it up for everyone as well. What a cutie pie.

 These two boys couldn't be more different. They are four months apart. Next time they are together I am guessing they will be able to actually interact. The one thing they do have in common is their unusually long arms, oh and they both can scream really really loud.

 Andrew was not so excited to be held by grandpa. My dad likes to hold the baby for like 2 minutes max so it all worked out.

After everyone left Thursday night Katie, Heather, Caleb and I jumped in the car and headed to Park City to shop. I hate shopping on black Friday and I hate staying up late but it seemed fun at 6pm when we decided to go. It actually was fun. We all did a little shopping. Once we headed home I slept the entire way. I was tired.

Friday was supposed to be my clean the house and get ready for Christmas day. Instead it was I am sore and tired and grouchy. So I slept in, went to breakfast with Dan, went to watch The Life of PI, took a nap and shopped in the evening.

I bought new Christmas tree ornaments and I love them!

Today I cleaned my house for 7 hours. 7 hours, PEOPLE!!! That is a long time. I washed base boards, and vacuumed cushions and blinds, mopped, and set up Christmas. It looks great. I love it. Then I worked at the temple. As I enter the temple each week I am again reminded of all that I have and that the Lord has given it to me. It was a wonderful way to spend my evening. I am blessed.

It's the little things

 It's really nice to feel appreciated occasionally. One of my former basketball players Mom's had to come by Lakeridge and she had her drop off some cake balls for me. How nice is that???? I didn't need cake balls, but they were delicious, and much appreciated. It was just really generous.

Oh and I do happen to love cake balls.

I have some students that say thank you everyday after class. It is such a little thing but it really is nice to hear. Even if they don't love every single thing we do and their parents probably tell them to. It is still nice.

I am not a fan of snow sticking around, but I do think it is beautiful. This morning watching the GIANT flakes come down was mesmerizing. It was so calm and beautiful.

Basketball started. The team is selected. One week of practice down. I have a few players that say thank you every day after practice. Even when we run a lot, and I have to correct them a lot.

I have been watching Heartland on Netflix. Katie got me hooked. It is cheesy, but I love it. It is clean. Family oriented. It is nice to have a show that I enjoy watching that is appropriate.

Playing soccer and basketball. This week was CRAZY! I was at the school way too much. There was the usual things like school and basketball but on top of that there were UAPHERD board meetings and parent teacher conferences. I really didn't have time to do much else. By the time I got home I was exhausted. It was nice to get out and compete today. Even if I didn't play well in soccer I still felt so much better for having run around.

Spotify. I love it. It has been great to use with my students.

Chatting with friends. I got to chat with Katie Call this week. It was so great to catch up. Afterwards I kicked myself for waiting for an event like a birthday to call a friend.

It's the little things that matter most!

70

 Nancy turned 70!!! I just can't believe it. She does not seem 70. Her birthday was November 3rd and we were able to celebrate her all day. It was quite fun.

We didn't tell her the plan, we just drug her along. It was great to see so much family. Nancy has played a huge role in my life. Now that I have a niece and just love her to pieces I am even more grateful for Nancy's love for me. I am assuming she feels for me and her other nieces and nephews the way I feel for mine. That's a lot of LOVE!

Katie did most of the planning and Loralie did the inviting. But it was great. Nancy I loved celebrating you, you are the best!

just getting by

 I feel like I am just getting by. School has been really busy. Last Friday was the end of the term. Lots of students with A-'s and B+'s that want their grades made up. Then to top it all off I am using heart rate monitors, which I have a love/hate relationship with. Love the data, love that the girls move more, hate all the set-up every day, the millions of baby wipes I use, and all the behind the scenes downloading and planning. But overall I think it is taking my class in the direction I want it to go. So YAY!

Sunday there was a little downtime so we went to visit the newest Brown. He is too cute.

 Dan was trying to match all of little Andrews expressions, hilarious!

I got to rock him and read through all the children's books he has. There is something about rocking a baby that you just gotta love.

Tomorrow is Halloween which = nightmare. Next week basketball starts which = I am so not ready to be at school until 5:30 or 6 everyday. I love it. Every year I love it but every year I so dread the time commitment.

The weather has been amazing this week. Maybe tomorrow I will actually get out and do something.

Today was Olivia's real birthday. I Skyped with her but she was being CRAZY! She was way too excited but it was so fun to see her on her special day. Can't believe she is three. Wish she lived closer.

Another Boy!

 Seriously, we do boys in this family. I love little girls and especially buying little girl clothes but I must say both my nephews are adorable as well.

Little Andrew James Brown was born on Monday afternoon. It was so fun to go visit him and his parents on Tuesday. It is so fun to see how having a baby changes everything. His parents love this guy A LOT! And I do too. You expect, well at least I do, to see the change in the mother but both my brothers changed. Sam you are a changed man, take that advice from Ben!

And all of a sudden Caleb is so mature looking. I think he also looks handsome in this picture. I must say I have been very proud of Caleb since he has lived out here (knock on wood). He has really excelled at his job, made new friends, biked everywhere he needs to go, lost 20 lbs, and after some chats (my version of a PPI) with him about house keeping items we seem to have a great routine again at this house. His goal for getting the mission papers in is middle of December. YOU CAN DO IT!

Back to the little guy that absolutely refused to open his eyes last night. Andrew is just precious. And then at work today Sam sent me a text with this picture and I almost died. How cute is he? Yup I love him already.

And just for fun let's compare how these cousins don't look so similar at birth, we will see what the future brings.

Olivia                                                              Braxton                                          Andrew

 Although the siblings look quite similar. I just love being an aunt.

The last little bit. . . . (I promise)

 Blogger is so frustrating sometimes. I don't want to organize all these pictures so I am just going to go with it.

Braxton had grown so much since I saw him in July. I love that he can now interact with you. He had great smiles and was so fun to be around. He is a pretty easy going, happy little fellow.

Katie has the magic to get this cutie giggling. He was all smiles every night during bath time.

 Olivia let me read to her a ton this trip. In the past she has had a hard time sitting through books. This time she couldn't get enough of them. We read lots of princess stories and a couple of other books over and over. Pretty sure I have them memorized. But it was fun.

 Nothing like waking up to a little girl every morning asking for "aunt LaNell." I loved that and it made it worth getting up between 6 and 7 every single day of my vacation.

The picture of Olivia below is so funny. She is playing with my brothers soda cans. They would be so proud. No she didn't drink any of that nastiness. 

 Great grandma Brown taking a turn to hold the little guy.

 Lot of smiles from two happy kids. Olivia loved the park. It is so funny to watch her try to get the older kids to play with her. She wants to be so big. And it is hilarious to watch her run. She is in a shuffling phase. Very small fast steps. Every time I watch her I think of the song "Party Rock Anthem" and I want to play the chorus....everyday I'm shuffling.

 And you can't have a day in a swimsuit without a wedgie. It is actually cute on little girls. They don't even realize because they are playing so hard. Love it.

 Thanks to my parents for traveling with me. Anthony and Aaron for sacrificing their weekend for family time. Ben and Katie for hosting us all. Jan, Lou, Grandma Brown, Ty, Allison, and Autumn for coming to Fort Bragg for a day. It was the perfect fall break.

It's back to work for me tomorrow. Today I cleaned, did laundry, ran errands, hiked the Y, and rested. Tomorrow is going to shock my system I am sure.