Another great Christmas for the Brown Family! Oh, except that I started feeling sick in the middle of the night and spent Christmas morning lying down on the couch not eating anything…go figure. Luckily no one else got sick! Phillip, Loren, Anne and Kenyon all flew in to spend 2 weeks with us. So fun to have a little kid for Christmas – of course he loved opening presents! The best part of the day was visiting with Elliot in Peru. So fun to see and talk to him! Thanks to Madeleine for all the photos!
Tess and Madeleine gathered all the “Morgan Family” girl cousins at Tess’s apartment for a fun afternoon making gingerbread houses together. “We are a happy family!”
My brother Mark and his family moved into a beautiful new house this past fall and invited the family for Thanksgiving. We had a good time with all the aunts, uncles and cousins! Of course the whole dinner was yummy…but I wonder who made the delicious rolls? They were pretty much to die for!
Elder Evans and his wife (who are in our stake) were on assignment to Cusco, Peru. After they finished speaking to all the missionaries, Elliot went up to them and introduced himself as being from their stake and in their daughter Becky’s ward. Sister Evans ended up visiting with them for about an hour or so. She came home the next week, sent us a lovely email, with some really nice praise for Elliot and his companion and this photo and then she delivered a handwritten note from him. People are just so nice.
This year we had the missionaries for dinner Halloween night. I wondered if they would be up for the traditional hot dog mummies, but I think it might just have been a refreshing change from the expected lasagna! 🙂 Of course we missed having Kenyon here, but the girls came over for dinner and Clark did his pumpkin magic.
That’s right, I graduated from BYU 30 years ago! My, how the time flies. I actually hadn’t realized it was 30 years until my friend and roommate Melora from oh so long ago called and said, “Let’s go!” So she and her husband Thomas flew in from NH for Homecoming weekend. We had a good time visiting with Robbie Bosco and Lee Johnson and Jim Hermann. If you don’t remember, it was 30 years ago that BYU was undefeated in football and went on to win the National Championship. Go Cougars!!!
Madeleine spent a week with Loren, Anne and Kenyon in South Bend, Indiana, where Loren is doing an internship at Notre Dame. She also spent a couple of days visiting with a friend in Chicago on her way home. Of course, she took a few photos…well okay, she actually made a movie….
Here are some of the photos she took that are my favorites!
This is Clark’s last “First Day of School” picture as he begins his Senior year of High School. I was telling him the other day that everything he does now is going to the be for the “last” time for me. He was quick to remind me that everything he’s done his whole life has been for the “last” time for me. True. Happy sad times all rolled into one.
We celebrated with an overnight get-a-way at the Marriott downtown. We enjoyed a scrumptious steak dinner and then got to go see the Broadway play, Wicked. It totally was as good as everyone said it would be! By total coincidence, we ended up sitting next to neighbors and family. So much for getting away “just the two of us!”
Very spontaneously, we decided to drive up to Jackson Hole for the 4th of July weekend with four of my siblings and their families. We all got rooms close to each other and had a great time running the river, watching the parade, enjoying (BBQ program), and watching fireworks! In the picture below, I’m in the corner wearing the brown hat and Alan is in directly in front of me. Our family filled up 2 boats! My dad would be so proud of all of us…he loved river running!
