Spring Break: the El Paso Adventure

WE ARE ON SPRING BREAK!!  And somehow we all managed to go on a Spring Break adventure this year, but not all together.  Most of our family went to El Paso for a few days.  (I went to Oregon, that entry to follow). 

Brandon took the kids down to see his grandparents and his aunts.

There is a large group from this side of the family.  Brandon's Dad has seven sisters and one brother.  Not all of them stopped by to say "hi" but as you can see from the picture, but quite a few did.  Brandon has the kindest aunts and they try to come and see him when he visits, always paying special attention to the kids.

They had a great time playing with cousins (no matter what age you are there is someone to play with), eating yummy food, helping Great-Grandpa in the yard, and playing.  The weather was beautiful for them and they spent a lot of time outside.  It was really fun for them to spend the weekend there.

Christmas Eve: part 2

After a much needed nap from all of the fun at the Browns we went to Brandon's parents house.  There we had more yummy food, nativity fun and a sing-a- long.

Here my "Joseph" and my "Wise-Man."

And my little angel who DID NOT like her costume!

And here in our completed nativity scene (minus the angel) ninja style.  Grandpa then took them around to the neighbors asking if "there was room in the inn."

After dinner we sang some Christmas songs...

while the little girls danced...

and the boys wrestled.

So fun to watch!

Here are the kids listening to the story of the first Christmas.

Then it was time to go home, go to bed, and wait anxiously for the arrival of SANTA!

Our summer fun: ITZ

One Friday, a couple of weeks ago we had another fun family day for FREE, courtesy of our favorite local radio station!

This time it was at ITZ and we had never been there. What a great way to check it out!

It was an awesome place for the boys (including Brandon), but Katie was still to small to participate on very many of the rides or video games. Not that she didn't have some fun!

All of the kids enjoyed the bowling. Just their size!

The boys (remember, this included Brandon too!) had a great time on the bumper cars and this other ride that spun you around in the air. Katie really wanted to ride that one, but she was too small.

She was just tall enough to ride this little train roller coaster, so Brandon took her. She was very excited until it started. Then she was very scared!! The ride operator had to stop the ride and let her off, she was that scared.
So she settled for a few of the kiddie ones.

And then the boys hit the video games. Truthfully, I do not understand the attraction of the video game, but they enjoyed them!

Afterwards... yummy Dions for lunch. It was a great morning!

To our dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas to you all! We sincerely hope that this letter finds you happy and healthy and enjoying the spirit of this wonderful time of year.

This past year has had many blessing, but some trials as well. Last December we sold our house and moved just before Christmas. We felt so blessed to have sold our house. Just 2 weeks later Brandon lost his job. We were very thankful to have the money from our house to live on until Brandon found a new job. In April Brandon found employment at Comcast. Then in July he was able to secure a job at a hotel as the Sales Director. And finally we felt so incredibly blessed to have Brandon apply and be offered the job of General Manager of the same hotel.

Despite the trials that Brandon had with employment early in the year he now has a job that he loves. He is doing very well there and is anxious to grow more within the company. He is very busy, but manages to fit in time with the family and perform his church calling.

Becca is busy with three kids! Plus her part-time job and TWO church callings! There is little time for her to participate in her hobbies, although she gets in a few projects now and then. She has been sewing more this year and wants to take on some more ambitious projects soon.

Eric (9) is now in the third grade and is doing very well. He loves school! He had an excellent report card and we have learned that he is a very good writer! He was lucky to get into an after school program that helps him improve on his skills in math. Eric also enjoys Scouts and completed his Wolf this fall. He is really growing up and is a wonderful helper around the house.

Joshua (6) started Kindergarten this year. I am enjoying watching his mind grow and expand with all of the new knowledge that he is gaining. He too, likes school, although I am unsure how he manages to sit all day. He has so much energy! His report card was excellent and he is on his way to being a star student!

Katelyn (18 months) is our sweet little girl. She is a lot of fun, very happy and lovey. Katie loves to wrestle with her brothers and hug and kiss them when they are sad or hurt. She is always smiling. She loves to play and be with people. She has grown so much over the last year, from a baby to a busy toddler.

We are excited to see what next year will bring for us and our family. We have the same hope for ourselves as we do for you; a Happy and Wonderful New Year!

Extended family

We so lucky that we had a chance to spend time with Brandon's Grandma. She came for a visit in late October (yes, I am very far behind in my blogging). It was wonderful to have the opportunity to spend time with her, although it was not as much as we would like. I love that my kids get to spend time with their great-Grandma. She is such a neat person, so full of life, and very spunky! In this picture we have two of her Grandsons, Brandon and Aaron, with six of her great-Grandchildren. This trip was the first time that she had met Katie and Lauren. Thanks for the fun visit. LOVE YOU GRANDMA!

Halloween

As is our tradition, we went to the ward Trunk-or-Treat this year for Halloween.

The night was really fun. Josh got a T O N of candy! He kept going around and around. This was Katie's first experience with this. She liked the candy, but liked the running around the parking lot better. And then there was Eric. I am starting to think that maybe he is getting a little old for this. He went a round once and then came back to say that he had enough candy, could he play with Katie. It was cute to watch them together. He is a wonderful brother.

And now the fun part, the costumes!!

Eric was a skeleton this year. I love it when the kids want to be "tradition" things for Halloween!

Josh was the best looking Dash! I so so glad that he choose this costume because it really fit him!



Katie was our little clown. She was pretty cute, if I may say. I had her done in these min-bun type things, but she pulled them out.


My little Halloween cuties!

There is always one...

Last week there was a rare day where everyone was home and we had nothing to do. So we took the kids to the mall for these fun jumps that they have set up there. They each got 15 minutes of play for just $3.00. Great deal, we were excited! They pretty much only have one rule, you CANNOT go down head first. You must always be feet first. One child understood and had a blast!

This one did not understand and was kick off after the first time he went down! I thought that I was going to die. The employee had just told him that he need to go down feet first, he runs up to the top and comes down on his stomach, head first. So he was forced to sit on this bench while his brother had a blast.

And he sat there while sister enjoyed her treat, a pretzel that she so nicely shared with Daddy.

Despite that, it wa a fun way to spend an afternoon together.

Fabulous Family Fun!

Tonight we went to CLIFFS Amusement Park with Brandon's work.. They provided dinner and admission to the park. THANK YOU !!!!

We had SOOO much fun! The boys rode everything that they could and loved it. One ride scared them, but as we walked by it later they wanted to go back.

We hit kiddie-land so that we could find something that Katie could go on. They were really awesome about letting her on. She had a great time if the tantrum that she pitched at the end was any indicator. I personally thought that she was so brave because some of the rides went fast and others went into the air, but nothing. She was happy!

The tilt-a-whirl... MY favorite ride.

I am not a big fan of the roller coaster thing, so I was happy to keep Katie while Brandon took the boys on those rides. It is a good thing that he likes them, the boys don't need to see Mom freak out because she is more scared then they are!

Katie liked the merry-go-round.

I think that we took about 80 pictures tonight! It was so fun to capture on film this fun night with the kids. We are already talking about the next time that we will get to go to CLIFF'S!

~ don't forget to check out the video's of us at cliff's on the next post~

Family Outing

Tonight we went to Hinckle Family Fun Center with Brandon's brother and his family. It was such a great night! The kids had a great time running through the course and getting a "holey one." My boys tried really hard to get the ball in the right way and they did really well at it. But I think that my niece Carly had the right way of playing all along, she would run up to the hole and drop the ball in. Way to go Carly! Afterwards we came to our house and had pizza and ice cream. It was a fun night for us. We love having family near us. It is great that our kids can be friends as well as cousins.

My cute boys had a lot of fun. I tried to get a picture of all of them, but they would not hold still long enough!

Gabe

Carly

It was fun for me to get pictures of Brandon tonight. He doesn't really like to have his picture taken but he didn't fight to hard tonight! Of course, not to many are up close.

Here he is teasing Marissa about her golfing. And below is Aaron. Nice cheesy wave!

I guess the only person that did not have a great time was Katie. She was fairly content in her stroller and I think that she enjoyed watching the other kids. But still, I know that she would have liked to get out and be with the others. Sorry cutie! Maybe next time.