Egg Race

My mind has the ability to be everywhere all at once, unfortunately the rest of me is not so lucky but we had a fun RUN with Easter this year. We let the kids run in a fundraiser for the high school track team! They loved it! Rianne did the softball throw, standing board jump, 100 and 400 meter race. I saw her run the 100 she did great.

She thought she did the best in the jump but both Brant and I missed seeing her. I had to RUN over to the church to help with the fundraiser dinner for Young women's. Heath did the same events except the 400 was replaced by the 200. I did get to see him jump he did great!

Brant got to watch the races it is no surprise that Heath likes to run (Remember "killers" during basketball). Turns out he is pretty fast too. Here he is in the starting blocks or is it box?

In the 100 he ran right out of his shoe looked down but didn't stop running after he won, he said "dad my shoe" and he went back on the track to get it. 

 He also won the 200 by quite a bit but he didn't slow down. He was very excited about his first place ribbons  

Thursday after pack meeting on we were off and running for Kanab

On Friday's run was replaced by a hike to Saleratus.

Josh and Morgan helped us handle the rough terrain. Mikko and Kaleb provided entertainment and took some great photos (which I haven't seen yet ;).

Josh showed us how to run the "spider wall" and also redemption on the wall. Heath proved again he is FEARLESS. Brant actually held him over the "water fall" to wash his hands.

We saw a few lizards and had a few snacks it was a beautiful day. Kristi is the best not only were our guides for the hike her sons but she gave us haircuts dinner and got us started on the egg decorating. 

The Easter bunny came for Saturday morning,

I love that my kids searched for their empty egg and what color it was (we talked about what each color symbolized) Then we took Heath up to the park (can you believe Ria is too old L for an egg hunt. He took out a couple kids while running after eggs but was disappointed to only find 5.

After we got home he opened one and found that he had a slip of paper for a dollar, he is saving it because he knows grandpa was the one redeeming the dollars JWe decorated more eggs

So we can ROLL THEM! I love this tradition.

I got to ride out to the spot with Amanda, Jonathon, Jana (JC) and the kiddos (Sammie, Nellie, Daxton, and Grady) first time I got to meet Grady, super cute kid.

We got to run our tires in the sand a little bit more than everyone else J Can you believe I have been out there 9 times and still couldn't find it on my own (I have the worst sense of direction) I wouldn't want to be stuck with anyone else knowing there are tough guys to get us unstuck! I enjoyed the little extra time. Here are the eggs running down the tracks. 

Heath spent most of his time at the bottom "catching eggs"?

That is not an egg Heath

He loved hangin' out with the boys. Josh is so good with the little guys

I love this picture of Heath hanging on him. Ria spent most of her time with the beautiful Brooklyn not that we caught her in a picture, she is Ria in 6 years

Then it is all fun and games until we run out of eggs the remaining pieces get golfed off, then the beatings occur, I told you Heath is fearless

I promise no one really got hit with the shovel but one did get sand in the face. They had Peyton posed so cute on a little rock then he fell face first into the sand and with the Brown family you don't brush it off you get a camera, he didn't even cry but what little boy doesn't love dirt?

After we got home we had time to Run out to the rock house for the Johnson Easter celebration Grandma & Grandpa J have been married 70 years! Wish I had snagged a picture of them but at least I got to squeeze em' Rianne loves babies and enjoyed Isa.

Isa is getting so big; every time I see her I just smile she is the cutest little stinker. Heath talks tough but I think he is intimidated by Tyler's muscles.

It was a quick visit, we decided we should Run back for stake conference so Easter morning we left with the kids in tears. We tried to explain that we love our family so much and we would love to stay there, so this man

 must be pretty important for us to leave so early in the morning. We were running late so I didn't get pictures of the kids in their Easter Sunday clothes.  Elder Nelson asked all the primary kids to stand and sing I am a child of God, Ria said I got to sing to an apostle. After the meeting we all got to shake hands with an apostle too! For me it was also cool to shake the hand of the Dr. who preformed my grandmas heart surgery (cool story, she had a near death experience). It was awesome!  How fitting that the Easter story involves Jesus' apostles and we got to hear from one! I love the story of them running to that tomb, how grateful I am for that empty tomb because He lives! His invitation to "come unto me" I will come running to him and he will give me breath!

Spring Chickens

Snow and Sun Spring has Sprung! Last Saturday we were shoveling snow and this Saturday we were barbequing! Heath is no chicken whatever season shows up!  

We had some visitors who think they are Spring Chickens. My folks drove 12 hours Tuesday and left at 4 in the morning Saturday for another 12 hour trip home—I hope they recover. They aren't as young as they used to be, literally my mom shared her birthday with us.

Brant wore a happy birthday tie to work just for her and made her fish, her favorite. She shared with Heath who also loves fish.

My dad said when he told her they WOULD be visiting us for her birthday it was like the Bosch Christmas—side story: my mom is easy going so sometimes it is hard to get a reaction out of her but the year my dad surprised her with a Bosch mixer and her OH Oh Oh reaction is renowned throughout family, it's how we gauge someone's excitement! It made me feel pretty good that a visit with us would even make that list. Dad said she almost jumped as high!

What is a birthday without cake, even if you have diabetes. I think she was impressed with Heath's b-day gift a porky pooper (such a thoughtful kid). Ria was a little more stumped because she knew grandma collects pigs then inspiration hit and she said "I like pigs too I'll give her pigs the way I like them" (bacon) it was pretty funny!

The rest of the time we put them to work Dad fixed our fence and gate, Mom spoiled us with good food and a special treat (her deviled eggs are the best). I love Heath's devilish face in this one!

We drug them all over and they put up with my busy schedule. They brought us some camping stuff, which we will need for the Trek. They also brought us pork & (lots of it) It was Quick but we will take what we can get! It was great to have them here. Hope they will hop back soon!

Saturday at the Easter Egg Hunt



Weird Ri the Science guy?

Rianne entered her science project. The buoyancy of bowls all her idea (even if Brant & I wanted her to try some other cool stuff). She was pretty excited to take 3^rd place!

 There will be other years for our crazy ideas. Brant had a good time with it and has been checking out science experiments on the web! Look out Myth Busters Ria and Dad are quite the team and I think they enjoyed the daddy daughter time too!

You ain’t Foolin’ Anyone

Who are these fools?

I want to celebrate everything. I love holidays and know that despite my parenting flaws, my children will have some happy childhood memories. Rianne actually has April Fool's in her top three for favorites. We had our April fools family home evening about the Wiseman and the foolish man. We had visitors and Heath was so excited to have one of his Primary teachers come. Instead of blocks I thought it would be fun to do jell-o jigglers but I foolishly made regular jell-o ;). We stacked Marshmallows instead I think we still got the point about building on a strong not shaky foundation and having a testimony of Christ and His words, which goes with the history of April Fools.

(here it is in a nut shell if you don't know) 1582, in France. Prior to that year, the New Year was celebrated for eight days, beginning on March 25. The celebration culminated on April 1. With the reform of the calendar under Charles IX, the Gregorian calendar was introduced, and New Year's Day was moved to January 1. Communications being what they were in the days many people did not receive the news or couldn't read the announcement; they continued to celebrate the New Year on April First. They received the label of "fools" by the general public. They were subject to some ridicule, and were often sent on "fool's errands" or were made the butt of other practical jokes. It is always good to remember that I can know for myself the truthfulness of the gospel and how grateful I am to Read His words. I'm also slow to conform J

Then came the day of foolishness; We had "eggs" for breakfast, I'm so glad Pam gave us some eggs from her chickens because it played into the size of the yolk. We had inside out sandwiches for lunch. Rianne was stocked up with pranks for school.

You can see her inside out sandwich and of course the apple cider vinegar (apple juice). She wrapped her ankle and hopped into circle time with all the "what happened?" she yelled "April Fools". I think that one was her favorite. She took a shock pen and got a few laughs from that, and of course the ol' spring in a can joke got the lunch duty lady with that one. I also made sure she had some worms and rocks for lunch she loved the little surprise treat. She came home so excited about the day I couldn't help but smile. She gets so excited to pull a prank that she almost gives it away. 

  Heath on the other hand is very sneaky, in March he got caught watching basketball, instead of cleaning his room, I couldn't really get too upset with that he did let me know the score J I made some foolish picks on my bracket and Brant killed me this is not good for my record he beat me in bowl picks too. Sorry, foolishly distracted.  

On April 1^st Heath put his breakfast plate in the pantry to trick me and never said anything until I found it just after lunch! He loved being a sneaky prankster April first or not.

I made "milk shakes" for dinner really I just blended soup but when Brant went to add salt Ria tricked him by switching it to sugar. She was the only one that got Dad!

Then we got treats ready, got into our disguises (that could fool anyoneJ) and set out on our Fool's errand. I hope the unsuspecting fools enjoyed their treats!

How fitting that General conference falls right after April Fools, How great the wisdom and the love! What a wonderful weekend filled with a little foolishness and a lot of Wisdom!

Luck of Leprechauns

The kids have been anticipating this visit for quite some time. When Heath was matching socks the other day and a few were missing, he was convinced the leprechaun took them and that they would show up on St. Patrick's day. The socks didn't but the Leprechaun did. He created this mess…

Rianne found her shoe.

Heath found his boot in the office, and followed the shoe prints to his new pair of flip flops and a trick calculator.

It was so funny when he pushed it and got sprayed with water in the face, "Oh the leprechaun got me good, I totally didn't see that coming". Brant found his shoes with a new green shirt and tie, if he's lucky the elbow won't rip, we've been having trouble with that!

I found my shoes. We had Irish flag for breakfast. Rianne finally found her other shoe in the freezer the leprechaun really tricked her with that hiding spot.

We cleaned up the leprechauns mess and got ready for the Pot o' Luck!
Grandma Brown sent these aprons so the kids could help me make treats to get ready for St. Patrick's Day complete with treats in the pockets!

She sent a little note that made me feel so good too! I told Brant I have the best mother-in-law to which he responded "hey, mine are pretty good too!" We made pots of gold

and shamrock pop, the kids were awesome getting ready for the party.

We hosted a Pot 'O Luck (I think it is officially an annual event) 

The Irish proverb "May your home always be too small to hold all your friends". And we have great friends! Look at all that fun food!

I loved the little side conversations everywhere the volume level and the laughter! My home felt like one big happy family, if only for a night! My friend put together a tricky treasure hunt for us to try!

here is Jordan bombared with kids for help with the clues even little Isaac is getting into the action. 

The kids enjoyed it but the orange and green clues took too much time and they lost interest, well all but Morgan (we love this girl). She kept asking me if they had solved the green clue yet, I told her to ask Isaac he was the adult(working on it) after 2 or 3 suggestions, she finally in frustration said "Isaac can't even walk yet" Her baby brother's name is Isaac and I realized her confusion, it was funny. They did catch a rainbow (skittles) at the end of the treasure hunt.  Here are a few of the guys at the house this picture doesn't show how crowded it was.    

I was also so happy to have so many babies in green this little girl (in red) is lucky but may not feel that way when she is 9 and this is her primary class. 

I hope everyone had a great time. It was just what I wanted just wish I had a bigger house ;)

 

March Madness

We got a little taste of March Madness with the kids. This was Ria's second season playing upward basketball, and Heath's first season. They both had the same coach (different teams) and They both had a blast!

Rianne seemed to get better, and better every game. Defensively she learned to be the meat (stay between her girl and the basket). I think she got a piece of the ball on this one.



again with the turn ahh! but she looks like a volleball blocker :)

She really hustles and uses the bounce pass very well and is a pretty good shooter, if she has a little time.

Her highlight was there come from behind game, she loved that, I think they were down like 20 points at half time and came back to lose by 2. The last game they played a very tough team it was nice to see her be a little more aggressive. She really crashed the boards and was very competitive. She played on a team with some really great girls!

Heath got really good, He was old enough to play in the league but I think he was the only one not in Kindergarten or 1^st grade.

At first he ran around like a kamikaze. He loved defense he would say all the time "my guy didn't get the ball". Competiveness wasn't' an issue for him, after ever game he would ask if they won (they don't keep score with his age group). I would say did you have fun, when he said yes then I'd say then you won. By the end of the season he really understood defense and offence.

He is quite the little dribbler and rebounder too. We were a little worried when he was trying to avoid rebounds in practice so he could run killers (ladders). Seriously he loves it; he set them up and did them at home all season. He also loved the beginning of the game when they announced his name and he ran out (they played that at home too)

 Our biggest highlight was watching basketball on TV with both kids totally into the game, Heath was addicted he loves to see them dunk; it makes my heart happy too! They are going to love March Madness! When does little league football start? J

Pair of one

made this for Brant, He love Jones Cream Soda they are stacked up one on one :)

11 is a pair of one's
We celebrated 11 years on March 4^th. Brant had a few little stops planned. He knows me, so well and started out our celebration with Junk breakfast! Then we went to the temple. On our wedding day we drove to Idaho Falls together as the temple came into view I remember those butterflies of excitement, 11 years later as we turned up the road to see the Mesa Temple I got a few little butterflies, We had been so hungry for a temple trip!

We met the cutest couple the Allen's they will be married 68 years in May it was what we needed to see! Reminded us that in 11 years things have changed but we still look into those same eyes and will Forever! I wish I could say that we received some aha moment in the temple, but we didn't feel like some immediate solution presented itself. However, the peace was incredible just feeling like, "yes it's hard, it may not get easier but we have the power to get through it—Together." We enjoyed the display in the visitor's center. We went to LDS family services, this adoption recertification process has been frustrating but we won't focus on that.



I must have hit it too hard :)  I was only a little of course, ha ha  



We enjoyed dinner together; we still enjoy each other's company! The most revealing part of our celebration was Golf Land. We had a blast, I did horrible as usual. We are how we golf; He is a softy and I over do! Brant would hit it too soft and I would smack it too hard, we laughed. After 11 years we are still balancing each other out and we have so much fun on this course!



still can't get this to turn :( Soft Shot



Some of the hardest times have made our love deeper than I thought possible. Those hard times have somehow changed us, even if we are the only ones who know it. We get through it together, we change together! There is no one else I'd rather be facing these challenges with. I'm grateful for the heartaches and challenges, I'm grateful for a marriage that has been better than I could have imagined. I like me better with him. We really are a pair of one!