Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Even though my mom and dad didn't come for Christmas this year we had a wonderful day. My friend, Diana Mildenstein, invited our family over for Christmas Eve. We ate dinner and had a cute program where each family shared some of their favorite Christmas stories. Christmas day was so much fun. I have pictures that I will post later.

Cadaver Lab...Eeeeewwwwweeee!

These pictures are not for the squeamish! Warning! As some of you know, Steve designs shoulder implants. Part of his job requires that he conduct cadaver labs where the surgeons he works with practice "installing" the implants. The focus on the pictures isn't very good but you get the general idea. Yes...that is just an arm hanging there...a really big arm, complete with tattoos!

Shoulder Surgery Cake

One of the engineers that Steve works with loves to decorate cakes. She always makes a cake for whoever in the group is having a birthday. She makes the most amazing cakes. This year she asked Steve what kind of cake he wanted... He said, "oh, how 'bout a shoulder surgery cake." This is the result! The surgeons, table drape, and arm are made of fondant. (Only an engineer!)So cool!

Happy Birthday, Steve

Since Steve's birthday is so close to Thanksgiving we always save the pecan pie for his birthday pie! This year Sam and Braeden made it!

I had Steve college dipolma framed for his birthday. It turned out just beautiful!

Happy Turkey Day!

This year thanksgiving was just us. We didn't have anyone come over. We tried inviting people but it just didn't work out. We had a great day. Over the passed several weeks we have been letting the kids cook dinner. Each person is assigned one day to cook dinner and everyone else helps. Everyone cooks dinner. I got tired of fixing dinner and then everyone plopping down and eating. I find they appreciate dinner a lot more and they really like learning how to cook. So, this year everyone helped cook Thanksgiving dinner.

Lindsey was playing with the napkins after dinner. She got dad to play to...what daddy won't do for his little girl!

Here is our beautiful table. Kylie and Lindsey set the table.

Steve baking his rolls. (my mom's recipe-Lola Bonham rolls) The first year he ever tried them. I was so impressed at what a great job he did...he had lots of help. I tried to make them last time and they were terrible!

Kylie making the sour cream fruit salad.

Making rolls. My mixer wasn't big enough to handle 9 cups of flour so they mixed them by hand.

My truck has no heat!

On the way home from stamping club, I noticed that the heater in my suburban wasn't working. It was blowing cold air...and my thermosat was running a little hot. We found out from my brother that the water pump was bad and needed to be replaced. (the day before Thanksgiving) Steve decided that it would make a great family activity! The kids loved it. He let them each take a turn at doing something. It reminded me of when we were first married and Steve would work on our cars or his parents car and Steve's dad, Wallace, would supervise. He had a bad knee and hip so he would sit on the chair and tell Steve what to do. I'm so greatful that Steve can fix cars! Although, I wish he had learned more from his dad. His dad was a great mechanic and Steve really didn't take advantage of that. So now he has to learn a lot when doing. But thankfully he got that gene from his dad and he is able to figure it out. It saves us 1,000's of dollars in repair bills!

Hutto Fire Department

Lindsey's preschool group had a field trip to the Hutto Fire Dept. The dept. was a volunteer dept. until a few years ago. They still have positions that are volunteer but they have 2 full time and several part time.

Braeden & Lindsey riding the "hippo"mation. I guess they couldn't afford or want a real dalmation!

Lindsey on the back of the brand new engine #1 ladder truck.

Braeden in the driver's seat! He wanted to go so bad. I went and checked him out of school for a couple of hours and then took him back. His friends thought he was lying when he told them where he went! (What a cool mom!)

Lindsey (& fireman Blake) in the ladder truck.

Sick & Tired of being Sick & Tired

It seems as though every time I turn around someone in our family is sick. This year we have been sick more than any other I can remember. I think I have been sick for over a month; first with my surgery and then I finally got the stomach virus that everyone had earlier. It took almost 3 weeks for me to get it. I think it was waiting for my body to recover from surgery and then WAM!! The other members of the family had it for 24-48 hours. I had it for almost a week. I'm looking forward to getting back to normal. It has been 4 weeks since my surgery and I can start doing normal, everyday activities again!

Surgery...It's a long one

Wow! The last few weeks have been a blurr. Lindsey was sick on Halloween, throwing up all day. Early Saturday morning I thought I was getting sick. I felt pretty nausious but never threw up. I felt fine the rest of the day. Early Sunday morning around 3:00am, I had intense, never felt that way before, pain. I wanted to throw up thinking that it would help me feel better but I never did. I couldn't lay down, sit up, or walk. Most of the time I spent pacing back and forth in my bedroom. I almost asked Steve to take me to the emergency room. I finally threw up once but it did not releave any of the pain. Steve gave me a blessing and I was able to sleep for a few hours. After I woke up the pain returned. After about 24 hours it reduced to just being uncomfortable. I was talking to my mom and she said it sounded like I had a gallstone attack. I looked it up on the internet and yep....I had all the symptoms. I decided that I should probably go to the doctor. I went to the doctor on Tuesday. He ordered some blood tests and an ultrasound. The next day the doctor's office called and confirmed that I did have gallstones. They referred me to a surgeon. I called and made an appointment for the following Tuesday. After I hung up, I decided that next Tuesday was almost a week away and I didn't want to wait that long. I was still really sore and uncomfortable. I couldn't eat hardly anything because that made the intense pain come back. So I could starve or be in pain. I called the doctor back and the nurse said he had another office and I could call there to see if I could get an appointment sooner. They had an opening the following day...Thursday. Steve and I met with the surgeon and he recommended surgery. So he said "how 'bout tomorrow?" They scheduled my surgery for 12:00 on Friday. This was fine by me. I didn't want to hurt like that ever again. Around 10:30pm I was sitting on the couch finishing some laundry before I went to the hospital. I heard someone run to the bathroom and start throwing up. I think it was Charity.....then Steve....then Braeden! Oh yeah...Kylie called us the day before when we were meeting with the surgeon and she had thrown up at school. So I have 4 people in my house that are throwing up! The night before I go in for surgery! I called the Relief Society president and asked for help. She found someone to take me to the hospital. It was Anna Weaver. We serve in the Primary Presidency together. She had another lady in the ward tend her two little kids so she could go to the hospital with me. She stayed until about 4:00pm and then drove my car home. Valerie Gordon, the Bishop's wife, and she is also in the primary with me called and checked on my family to see if they needed anything. They all felt better the next day. Steve came Saturday morning to take me home. I think it was a blessing that they all got sick at the same time. I didn't have to be there to clean up and I didn't have to worry about tending sick kids while I was trying to recover from surgery. My kids never get sick at the same time. It usually takes a week or two for something like that to go through everyone. Once I got home the kids were so cute. Steve bought me one of those horns that go on a bike. If I needed anything I was to honk the horn...shortly after I had three kids in my room...(Kylie, Braeden, & LIndsey) People from the ward also brought in meals and tended Lindsey while Charity and Steve were at work. We have been truely blessed by those around us. It has been really hard being in Texas without family to rely on for help. We have such a wonderful church, ward....the gospel. What do people do without it?

Stayin' Alive!

Just a cute picture of Lindsey. She is doing the "stayin' alive" dance. This was before Halloween so this is all the dress up she got to do...

Mom....I need your help...

Eewwww....what is that? Lindsey came and woke me up one night around 3:00am. She quietly said, "Mom, I need your help." Being that it was the middle of the night I couldn't see much. I took her into the bathroom and this is what I saw after I turned the light on. (My camera happened to be sitting right there...and I couldn't pass up the opportunity. She was not happy that I wanted to take a picture!) I finally realized that it was silly putty! She fell asleep with the silly putty in bed with her and this was the result. She couldn't even open her eye. It was stuck shut. I'm really glad it was not gum! I remember from my days of selling Mary Kay that one of the consultants had used the eye makeup remover to get something off of her child so I went to my makeup shelf and got my bottle of MK makeup remover. I used a cotton ball and was able to get it all off of her face and eyes. Next, was getting it out of her hair. It was warm and was really sticky so I went and got some ice to try and harden it up. I was able to get the majority of it out doing this. I then put her in the tub and tried good ol' shampoo. After about 5 good washings it was all out! I was so amazed. I was so happy that I didn't have to cut her hair! She promised she would never take silly putty to bed again!

Here spidy, spidy

I made these cute little spiders for the kids to give their friends at school. They have a small--halloween size York peppermint patty in the middle. The kids didn't waste much time looking or oooing and awing--much to my disappointment...they just wanted the candy. I had fun anyway. I thought they were really cute.

Happy Halloween! Not so happy for one....

This is how Lindsey spent Halloween. She was so sick...throwing up most of the day. She didn't even care that she couldn't wear her cute little witches costume or that Kylie and Braeden went trick or treating without her....they were so good, they took her bag around and told everyone they needed some candy for their sick little sister.

I bought matching witch costumes for Lindsey and Kylie....they would have been so cute together. Braeden and Kylie went to the ward Halloween party and "trunk or treating." Sam helped out the YM with the spook alley at the church party.

Kylie Learns to Sew

This is the little sewing project that Kylie did at her last Acheivement Days. She was so proud of herself...and "sew" was I. I only had to help her once. Now she wants to sew...everyday. I wish I had the time to let her sew everyday.

The Dead President's...almost

This is the coolest thing. It is just sitting on the side of the freeway (US 288). It is on the way to see Courtney just south of downtown Houston on the way to Pearland. It's in the middle of an empty field. They appear to be made of fiberglass. I have wanted to stop for a long time to get pictures. I'm usually asleep and so we haven't stopped. This trip I was awake and remembered. There is no plaque or anything to show why they are there or why they chose these particular presidents.

George H.W. Bush, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Lyndon B. Johnson, and John F. Kennedy.

Houston Children's Museum

Our visit with Courtney this month included the Houston Children's Museum. I decided the Brown's needed more cultural and educational experiences! It was so much fun. The next several posts show you our day.


This is a crazy robot that was made entirely out of old telephones. It was at least 15 feet tall. Check out the nose! It is a red phone handle. It's head moved from side to side.

We'll make a farm boy out of him yet! He was a natural. Got milk? In this case it was water.

Enjoying a puppet show.

Kidz TV Station

This exhibit was a TV station complete with an anchor desk, cameras, teleprompters with scripts and costumes to dress up in. They even had scripts for interview different people and different news stories. Braeden liked the "behind the scenes" stuff...like the "control desk"...big surprise.

Grocery Shopping

I think this exhibit was the kids' favorite. It was set up like a grocery store (HEB sponsered...a chain in Texas) They had shopping baskets, lots of plastic food and cash registers. They spent a lot of time here. They loved it.

More...Houston Children's Museum

Fun with Hats...

Face painting...what a cute little kitty! Meow...

Kylie was a good sport and let Lindsey paint her face...

This was a '67 (maybe) Ford Mustang that the kids could sit it and play with.

Courtney said she wants a car just like this one when she gets old enough to drive. I thought "ok" since they had it all tore apart and it wasn't goin' anywhere. It would be the perfert car for her! I wanted one of these cars when I was in High School. My dad wouldn't consider it because he said it would cost too much to fix it up. I got a 1970 Pontiac Firebird instead. It was my brothers. I had it repainted (orange/red) and reupolstered. It was fun to drive. Glad I don't have it now. I think it got about 2 miles to the gallon. It was a Formula 400!

This was a game that you had to arrange the tiles so that the numbers added up to "15" in all directions. It took Sam about 10 seconds. He was very reluctant to let me take his picture. I think that he thinks he is getting too old.

This was a contraption game, kind of like an etch-a-sketch. There were two wheels that you used to guide the blue square with the ping pong balls around the trail trying to avoid the holes. It was fun.

Hats...

More Hats....What fun you can have with a hat!