MADAGASCAR!

No, not the movie, the country.

The Island off the east coast of Africa.




The island that is the 4th largest in the world. The country where they speak French, Creole, Malagasy, and English. The home of 5% of the worlds plant and animal species.




And is the soon to be home for my parents mission!! Yea mom and dad we are so excited for your adventures while serving the Lord!

Merry Christmas to All!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We had fun setting up and decorating.



Had a blast at the annual Brown Girls Bake Night. YUM!



Set up a real tree.



Secretly went shopping.



Had family and friends parties, activities, and dinners.

Humbly remembered the birth of our Savior and all he has done for us.


We are grateful for all of the love and blessings we have in our lives, and wish you a Merry Christmas!

The New Place!

Jimmy and I loved our old apartment but we get a little stir crazy sometimes, and a wonderful opportunity came up for a new apartment. We thought we'd give it a shot, but up our contract to sell, and sold it in a week so again we had an unexpected crazy move but we went from 2 bed/1 bath, to a 4 bed/ 2 bath for a hundred dollars less! We didn't need all of the space but the extra bedrooms make for a great craft/man cave and storage room and now guests don't have to use our bathroom, they have their own. We miss our big living room and private patio, but our kitchen, and laundry make up for that. So now we live 3 blocks north and get to be neighbors with good friends, a lot of BYU single girls, and especially this one :) We've been here for 3 months now and love it! Thanks to everyone that helped us in the process to get in here! And here are some pics for anyone who hasn't been here, and if you live around here and haven't been here, you should stop by we'd love to have you!


The Office

The Living Room

And The Kitchen

BYU v. UTAH

Football isn't quite a religion in our house but it is a big deal. When Jimmy got season tickets for the BYU games this year he bought them with a friend of ours and they were rotating seats. They got so excited when they found out their seats for the BYU Utah game was on the FRONT ROW! So before the game we went all out and painted faces and spray painted hair. It looked great! It's a good thing we did too because come third quarter at about the ten minute mark after the review Jimmy and Jeff were on camera! Woo Hoo! At the end of the win they were in great spots to run out on the field too. It was a great game! Go Cougs!

Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! I am grateful we have such awesome family around to have it with. We all went over to KJ's house to eat, and it was all yummy! The appetizers were amazing and we got pretty full on that so we barely put a dent in all of the food. Poor Jimmy got really sick right before dinner and had to lie down for the festivities. He didn't get to eat any of the yummy dinner. After we ate we played games (yea!). I was so grateful that some wanted to play. I love playing games but haven't since getting married. Slowly but surely our game closet is getting bigger and Jimmy is playing more games with me. We also watched Aliens in the Attic. The kids loved it and laughed at all the right parts which made movie more fun for me the second time. It was a great day and a fun evening. I'm so grateful for Jimmy, and my Heavenly Father who loves us so much! Happy Thanksgiving!



All the food that hardly got eaten :) YUM!

Halloween!

To add to the post below: We had a wonderful Halloween this year. We were grateful that we weren't walking around with painkillers, and crutches like last year after Jimmy's ankle surgery. We were glad for good friends, our ward Halloween party, and our creativity for fun costumes. We present Captain Jack Sparrow and his first mate for life!

And, we present our fun friends at the ward Halloween Party. We had a blast!

Graveyard Cake

Jimmy and I had a great Halloween. We were Capt'n Jack Sparrow and his first mate and had a blast! (Pictures to come) We made our traditional graveyard cake it is a very fun tradition in the Brown Family Household and the recipe was requested. And so, for your enjoyment as well as ours...



Halloween Graveyard Cake

2 1/4 C Oreo Cookie Crumbs
1/2 C Sugar
1/2 C Margarine (melted)
1 8oz pkg Creak Cheese
1 12oz pkg Cool Whip (thawed)
1 pkg Orange Jello
1 pkg Candy Corn and Pumpkins
1 pkg Milano Cookies (or other oval cookies)
Colored Frosting for decorating
Green Sprinkles for decorating

Directions:
-Mix 2 cups of cookie crumbs with 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup melted margarine. Press into 9x11 pan and refrigerate till cool.
-Beat cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar till smooth, then add 1/2 container of cool whip and blend together.
-Spread cream cheese mixture over cookie crumb layer covering all edges, and refrigerate.
-Make Jello till slightly thickened and spoon over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate till firm.
- Spread remaining cool whip onto Jello and refrigerate.
- Decorate with remaining cookie crumbs and green sprinkles for dirt and grass. Add tombstones and decorate like a graveyard.

Trusting in the Lord

On a very dreary, and heartbroken day, I stumbled across this. I didn't know how much the message would touch so close to home, but it did. I love my Heavenly Father, and I'm grateful for the love and comfort he gives me.

I'm Hungry!

Hungry for more ideas that is. I may have just blogged about my sister's yummy french breakfast puffs, but I am way bored with my dinner menu. I feel like I've done the same things over and over, so now I'm not really making anything. Because of that we are eating out more, or eating at home but not as healthy as flavorful home cooked dinners. So, I beg, I plead, if you have any good dinner recipes that you are willing to share, please share with me!

Conference French Breakfast Puffs

I love conference weekend! You get to sleep in and listen to the prophets voice and eat yummy breakfasts! Thanks to Roslyn I got to add French Breakfast Puffs to the tradition. I enjoyed eating these yummy creations when I visited Roslyn when I was in college, and now I get to enjoy them myself. As you can see they were very yummy! I didn't even get to take a picture till half of them were gone! If you would like to enjoy these yummies yourself, I've added the recipe:)




French Breakfast Puffs (By: Roslyn Beckstead)

1/3 c. shortening
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
~3/4 c. milk

*Preheat oven to 350.
*Cream shortening and sugar.
*Add egg and mix thoroughly.
*In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and nutmeg.
*Stir in flour (in about three parts) alternately with milk (in about three parts). Stir gently, after each addition, until just combined. You can add more or less milk to get a good muffin consistency. Do not over beat or over mix. (This is probably where I don't get it right, since I make sure my baking powder is fresh)
*Pour into greased muffin tin about 2/3 full (it should make 12, but I usually make 9 since mine don't usually turn out).
*Bake about 20 min. or until golden brown.
*While baking, melt 6-8 Tbsp butter in a bowl, and make ~1 c. cinnamon sugar in a bowl (1 c. sugar + 1 tsp. cinnamon, or however you like it).
*Immediately after the muffins are out of the oven, roll in butter and then in cinnamon sugar and set on a plate.

Our first DIY and then we moved

So Jimmy and I had an amazing opportunity that we just could not pass up. There were some openings in the Fleur de Lis apartments for $50 less than what we were paying. So we put our apartment up for sale and signed the contract for our 4 bed/2 bath place. In order to move we had to finish our kitchen cabinets that were started back in November. So we bought some paint and trim, fixed some of the tiles and wah lah! Our beautiful kitchen.












For our first Do-It-Yourself, on limited budget, with improper tools and work area I think it turned out great! We probably won't be doing another DIY for a while, but the experience was good, and now we know that when wanted or needed we can re-create a beautiful kitchen. And to all you future Do-It-Yourself Projecteers, if I could do it you can do it! We sold our contract in exactly a week and moved into our new place! and we love it! (more pictures of our new place to be posted as soon as we are unpacked...:)

Labor Day Weekend & Swiss Days!

I love being a teacher, and I love all of our days off! This labor day weekend started like all. The Brown girls head up to homestead resort for a getaway weekend and Swiss Days! I was more excited this year than last, I wasn't pregnant and I was so looking forward to the break! Tiffany and I drove up on Friday after work and met the other girls there.
We walked around a couple of aisles of booths before heading over to our hotel room. I finally remembered my swimsuit and after dinner I finally got to the hot tub and swim in the pool a little bit. Tiffany, Angie and I climbed up the gazillion stairs to the top hole of the crater and enjoyed "only looking" down the deep dark hole. That night we all went to bed and I slept like a baby, even without Jimmy, which means I was really tired. The next morning we got up and saw the inside of the crater in the daylight. It was so awesome I told Jimmy I wanted to go snorkeling there for my birthday. Then we drove over to Swiss Days and I thoroughly enjoyed my strawberries and cream breakfast and hit up all the rest of the booths. There was so much awesome stuff! I only wish I had a house to put it all in. I blew my budget and spent double! But Jimmy requested that I do so, so it was alright. I got a couple of things for a future baby, our house and my classroom. At the end of the day we had our last caramel apple and BBQ dinner and headed home after one last look at the booths. Tiffany drove me home and I came to a house full of cougar fans. I made it home with just enough time to watch the amazing legendary 10 minutes of the game. Today we have been relaxing and went for a drive up the Alpine loop. What a beautiful weekend!

Ahh School...

Summer is now gone. School starts tomorrow. Except for the copier at school not working, the start is pretty uneventful. I'm here at home waiting with Jimmy for his scan, when I should be at school getting ready. I wonder if I have everything? Did I forget something really important that I should know about? Did the parents like me? But then I remember, I know how to do this, and I have wonderful people to help along the way. I love teaching. I can't see myself in any other career, and I'm grateful that I have been able to teach the last 2 and now my 3rd year. My school is awesome, my principal is awesome, my colleagues are awesome, and it's going to be an awesome year! Go Freedom Falcons!

2nd Year Anniversary

So this post is a week late but I just wanted to say Happy Late Anniversary. It was 2 years ago on a very hot 25th of July that Jimmy and I became sealed eternally. It has been an awesome 2 years. I was at Jimmy's work the other day and a co worker of his said, "How did he get so lucky to be with a beautiful girl like you?" I wonder the same thing. How did I get so lucky to be with a beautiful, amazing hubby like him. I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father helped us get together. Happy Anniversary Jimmy! 2 years down, eternity to go! And for your viewing pleasure, some pics to reminisce of that distant day :)

Goodbye Tmobile!

Jimmy and I were so excited to leave T mobile and now live in the world of Verizon! We love it! And we love our new phones! We got the new LG ENV touch for a steal!!! We're very happy :) Along with the quick story this posting is to let you know that we also got new numbers. I had been getting way to many advertising calls and calls for Carol and Jimmy didn't like his number. If you would like our new numbers, and you didn't get our email. Drop me a line on the message and I'll get them to you. Yea for new phones!

Camping!

Jimmy and I love to go camping, but rarely do so when the ward has it's annual ward camp out... We're There! We had a lot of fun camping despite the allergy attack. It was a beautiful location in the Uinta's next to a river! We set up our tent, cooled off in the river, had a yummy dinner, and played games all night! Sadly our camera didn't take a ton of pics but it was wonderful!







*just a note, the s'mores were yummy, jimmy's eyes are swollen from the previously stated allergy attack...poor guy.

Colorado

Jimmy and I got back from the Lehnardt Family Reunion last week. We enjoyed the views our our room of the National Rocky Mountain Park in Estes Park, CO. We were there for about 3 days and went to the pool, hiking, mini golfing, played Frisbee golf,enjoyed a campfire, s'mores and made crafts. Jimmy went to the annual brothers golf tourney and came in behind 2 of our brothers in law. It was really fun to be there and coming from a family of now 42 spread from Washington to Georgia, we don't get to see each other very often so we love it when we can.







Hiking up to a beautiful waterfall!



S'mores!



My newest niece Savannah



The view outside our room