Gone Too Soon

This is a hard post to write.  It is SO difficult to put into words the way I feel, and to adequately express just how amazing these men are.  But I want my children to know them, and to know how much they affected and influenced my life...so I'm going to try.

I lost an Uncle last year.  My Uncle Glen passed away suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack. He was such a GOOD man.  The kind of man that would not only give you the shirt off his back, but find a way to get a few more to send home with you. (So that you could hopefully avoid getting into this shirtless predicament again.)  :)  I don't think I realized until he was gone just how much of a constant support he was for the entire family.  Whether you had car problems, or house problems, or needed help with anything at all...he was always just a phone call away.  He was a fountain of knowledge, and a VERY hard worker.

If you read my blog, you know how much we LOVE to go to the cabin every year.  Uncle Glen is a huge part of my wonderful childhood cabin experiences.  I remember sitting around the campfire talking with him, and going on dune buggy rides... He would give us ALL rides in the dune buggy every year. (And there were A LOT of us!)  It would literally take hours, but he did it for us.  I can't even tell you how much I miss his unique, macho, crackley voice and laugh, and I think about him often.   

My Uncle Jerry passed in 2005, and since I didn't have a blog back then, I've never taken the time to write down my thoughts about my sweet Uncle Jerry.  Jerry was a father-figure to me when I was a kid. He was the one that baptized me when my Dad wasn't able to.  (My Grandpa Jensen confirmed me.)  He always had a twinkle in his eye and I swear even his resting face was a slight smile.  He was a spiritual giant serving as bishop and stake president in West Jordan for MANY years. He was serving as mission president in Pennsylvania when he became ill.  He was not getting better, and was admitted into the hospital.  It was there that they discovered he had the same lung disease (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis) that my Grandma DeOn had had, and that his illness (pneumonia?) was exacerbated by it.  He didn't survive, and we were all SHOCKED.  I miss Uncle Jerry terribly, and would do anything to hear his deep, powerful voice again...possibly singing the "Noah" song or "Ol' Man River" from Showboat. 

I know that someday I will hear their voices again.  I will run to them, and give them big gigantic hugs!

Peggy Gets Baptized!

Our awesome neighbor "Grandma Peggy" decided to be baptized last Spring. 

Peggy was the first neighbor we talked to when we were looking into buying our house.  Being the antisocial self-absorbed hermits home-bodies that we are, we didn't get to know her very well in those first couple of years.  But, even though we didn't talk much, she still brought us a huge Costco-sized box of diapers when I was expecting Lydia.  Then she moved to Arizona for several years, and her daughter lived next door.  When she moved back she was having some car trouble, so I took her into town to go shopping during my many pregnancy doctor visits.  Ever since then she's been a part of the family.  We all love her so much, and we're so happy that she asked us to be a part of her special day. 

Together Forever

 My awesome sister Jana took out her endowments in the Jordan River Temple -

 It was so wonderful to be all back together in the House of the Lord after almost 17 years! 

 We think that the spot between Dad and Steve is where our sister Tami was standing. 

(For those of you that don't know, Tami falls between Laura and Tara.  She was born with her intestines outside of her body (gastroschisis).  She passed away when she was 2 months old.  My Grandma Brown stood in for Tami during our sealing in the Las Vegas temple.)

 Leave it to the boys to mess around during a very spiritual photoshoot!

I honestly cannot describe in words how much joy it brings to me to know that these wonderful people are mine for eternity.

End of School Adventures

"Must catch up on blogging...can NOT lap myself..."
Disclaimer - this post is referring to the end of LAST school year.  Yes, I'm an entire YEAR behind. Ugh.

The end of the school year is so crazy!  (But also fun...right?)

 Carter's State float and poster.  He chose Nevada! (Obviously.) Please take a second to note that the sun is puffy. He really wanted it to be "3-D" so we spent quite a bit of time lining up all those blasted sun rays, and getting the glue to stick around the dang cotton ball.

 Crazy hat...vocabulary day...?  (Not real sure what the words were all about.)

 Meleah's Leprechuan Trap

 Favorite Character from a Book Day?  (2 Little Red Riding Hoods, and a Jedi of some sort.)

 Lydia's Australia report

 Carter and Lydia both received "Hero" awards.  I MAY have forgotten to go to Lydia's recognition assembly... (It's okay.  I've given up on my dream of being Mother of the Year.)

 The Favorite spirit day of them all (for ALL of us) - PAJAMA DAY!  (Guessing Lydia was sick that day.)

 "Futuristic Day" I believe...

 80's Day!  

(Glad I kept those scrunchies for something other than just wearing around the house when no one's looking.)

 Carter and Stryder were in the Hope of America at BYU.  It was TOTALLY AWESOME! (If you can get past the RIDICULOUSLY TERRIBLY traffic...which apparently, Randall can't.)  ;)

Favorite book character day again? I don't know, but Carter appears to be Anakin (again), Lydia's Fancy Nancy (again), and Meleah's Superwoman?  And I'm thinking Savanna thinks she's Jasmine.  See how annoying it is to blog A YEAR LATE?  Also see how invaluable your Jedi robes are, Mom? 

 Crazy Hair Day!

 (Isn't Carter's expression HILARIOUS?  Totally not sure if he should be letting me photograph him in that thing!)

 I went with Lydia to the BYU Planetarium, and I only remembered to take a picture on the bus...
Meleah went to the zoo for her field trip, but I didn't go with her because I was at my Uncle's funeral.  She had LOTS of fun. I did go with her on her end-of-the-year park field trip, but forgot to take pictures. And if there are no pictures...did it really happen...?

 Carter kicking butt at the R.A.D. Kids graduation.

 The lovely 3rd grade program.  It's kinda nice having short kids that always get put in the front. ;)

Savanna posing for pictures with her favorite murals at the school.  This time she was extra excited because they're TWINS!  (Both with piggy tails.)

 And the awesome 1st grade performance!  They sang songs from other countries/languages, which was admittedly a little weird to me for 1st graders...but still lots of fun to watch. 

Coming soon... SUMMER!  From last year... *sigh*

My Meleah Susannie is SEVEN!

Happy Birthday BEAUTIFUL girl!

 She made her own "flower garden cake" with LOTS of worms.

 At the end of her Stewart party we ran to the park so she could do her FAVORITE thing ever -

MONKEY BARS!

On the Brown side, we had an AWESOME party with Jana (the other Birthday girl).  It was Jana's "Golden Birthday" so we got them some gold accessories -

 Meleah has been Jana's little buddy since she was born, so it's kinda fun that their Birthdays are so close.   

 While we were decorating cookies, Savanna snuck in the house and found Jess's sharpies...

 There was also karaoke

 and COTTON CANDY!  (Thanks Tara and Jay!)

 I didn't get any pictures of it, but Savanna sang every. single. word. of "Let It Go" from Frozen.  It was ADORABLE!

FAVORITES:

Food:  Tomatoes

Color: Turquoise

TV Show:  Fresh Beat Band

Movie: Maleficent

Friend:  Cecilia (And Brayden, but she's too embarrassed to say that.)

Song: "Let It Go"

Book:  Junie B Jones

Toy:  Barbies

Food to Hate: Shrimp (AMEN!)

Thing to Do:  Play with my cousins

 

Funny Phrase

"Whenever I watch Harry Potter, I fall asleep in the middle of it...ON PURPOSE!" 

"uuuuhhhhh, mmmmmmmmmmmm, uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." (In the whiniest voice ever imagineable.  Honestly, I generally don't think it's all that funny NOW, but I'm sure it will be someday, right?) ;)

 

My little Meleah is an adorable, shy, little spitfire.  She is so timid at school and church, but you get her home where she feels comfortable and she WILL tell you what she's thinking.  ESPECIALLY if you're making noise (even if it's not particularly loud... (and if it IS loud, you REALLY better watch out!), singing, messing with any of her stuff, playing something different than she wants you to be playing, "staring" at her, copying her, tagging her, or doing anything else that she feels is "A-NNOY-ING!"  She definitely has her mother's patience, AND her yelling voice. (Yes, I yell.  No, I don't think it's a good thing to do.) 

 

She's also SUPER smart, and I literally cry at almost every parent teacher conference because her teachers say the sweetest things about her.  She has the cutest giggle ever, and she really is pretty good-natured, most of the time... :)  She's very responsible, and she LOVES to get Emma and Savanna dressed and ready for the day.  She's even bathed them for me a time or two.  She helps me out SO OFTEN, that I honestly can't blame her for getting a little tired of my constant favor requests.  ;)  I know she's going to make a wonderful wife and mother someday, and I'm so grateful to have such an amazing, strong daughter that knows her own mind.  I just hope that she can break out of her shell a little in social situations so that everyone will be able to benefit from her intelligent, helpful nature