Preston meets Miriam and Jacob.

Miriam and Jacob were very excited to meet their new little brother. It was so sweet to see them greet him with lots of smiles and a little curiousity about how he got here and what he was going to do next. Daniel was great showing them how to touch him softly and give soft kisses. They kids didn't seem to interested in holding him yet, but they were excited to see me which made me feel good.

PRESTON IS HERE!

I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday the 7th and luckily when I got there Dr. Pack told me that he had been to the hospital and they had some cancelations and a lot of nurses not doing anything so if I had dialated any more at all he would send me to labor and delivery to have my water broken. Luckily that is what happened. They broke my water at about 10:40 am and Preston entered the world at 1:41 pm. We were so excited to find out that we were welcoming a boy to the family. We did debate about a name, but chose Preston Cole Brown.

Vacation Time!!

This summer the only vacation we were able to go on was to Flaming Goerge with my family and family friends the Rowleys. We had a great time relaxing even though it wasn't near a long enough vacation from work or the busy life. Jacob and Miriam had a great time catching bugs and yes that is a very large spider Daniel captured for Jacob and then had him wear it around his neck. We did get to take the kids tubing and on the "dam tour". Daniel also was able to do a little cliff jumping and rope swinging. We really did have a great time!

Jon's Wedding

We got to have lots of fun at Johnathon's wedding the last two weekends. Unfortunately it rained on us at the Draper Utah Temple, but we did have lots of fun dancing at the reception, and in Pahrump for the open house we had beautiful weather all day long, and a nice time seeing lots of family and friends. Miriam and Jacob love to dress up and pretend like they are the ones getting married. In fact all month they have been telling people they are going to get married to each other. It is pretty cute.

Early Celebration!

Miriam will be three on Thursday the 19th, so we got to celebrate early this weekend with Grammy, Poppy, and Grandma and Grandpa Brown.  It was quite fun because we went to the park where my friends church was having a festival with a band, bouncy houses, balloons, face painting, a fire truck, etc.  As we drove up Miriam stated, "My party, My party!  I'm going to be free!"  She was so excited to go to her party and jump in her bouncy house, go down the big slide, and sit in the fire truck for her birthday.  We returned home to a barbeque our community was having to welcome new staff members, but Miriam thought it was a continuation of her party.  Afterward we opened gifts and had cake.  I don't think she could have asked for more.  Thanks to Katie for the cute PJ's, to Grandma and Grandpa Brown for the horse ride, helmet, and plastic horses, and to Grammy and Poppy for new princess bedding, a pretty banner for the wall, and lots of other princess barbies, books, and towel. Miriam loves it all and is so happy.

3 New Girls!!!

Wow! Talk about a crazy week. We got three new girls into our home this week. We have been a little low on numbers for a few weeks so we kind of expected it, but this was a little too much to be grateful for. On Monday we got a 9 year old who is in second grade and needs a lot of attention. On Wednesday we got a 14 year old on probation and has anger and aggression issues. I hope we can handle her without having to take extreme measures. On Friday we got another 15 year old on probation for drug abuse. It has been interesting teaching them all about the rules of the house, the routines, and to keep them out of trouble in the first week. Hopefully we will work hard for a little while and it will pay off with a break later on. We know if we can keep them around for a little while it will be good for us.

Jakey is getting so big.

We can not believe how much Jacob is growing and learning lately. He has begun to talk a lot more and even to sing songs sometimes. He has a lot of fun trying to keep up with Miriam and trying to climb on, jump on, play on, and do everything that she does. We try to have races to get buckled into the car, and to run where ever we need to go. Jacob likes to try to win and Miriam likes to win so they are both happy in the end and we get things done much faster. Jacob got a hair cut a couple of weeks ago and Miriam joined him by cutting her own hair while mom and dad were worried about crying Jacob. She got a big chunk in back so I have to be careful how I style it so it is not too noticable. Hopefully it will grow back soon.

It has been a while!

So I know, I know, I have been so bad at updating this I would be willing to bet if anyone was looking at it to see what is going on with us they are no longer. I just can't believe I have not done this for 3 whole months. I hope I will be better in the future, and I really will try to be on top of things so that we all can keep in touch.

Rock Climbing!

One thing that we have done in the last three months that I did not write or blog was we took the kids rock climbing with Daniel's brother and Dad.  Miriam had fun climbing the rock on her own and Jacob stayed nice and snug on Dad as he climbed.  The kids loved being out and exploring around the rocks and trying out what it is like to climb up the wall and fall back down.  We learned a lot and had fun!

Go Rebels!

We have taught our kids young to love college basketball.  We were fortunate enough this year to be able to go to a number of Rebel basketball games.  Miriam and Jacob always have fun dressing up like true fans and yelling REBELS, REBELS, REBELS!  It has been great.

Future Star!

Jacob couldn't be happier than when he is learning to shoot hoops or watching his cars race round and round the track. He started out chasing them around the track but now he just catches them as the drive by him. His dad thinks if he keeps practicing basketball as much as he does now for the rest of his life he really will be a star!

Future Star!

Pretty Princess!

Pretty Princess!

Miriam loves to play pretend with her new kitchen and princess dress up clothes. She will take care of her baby and cook and clean like any little princess would. She is so cute it helps me remember to be a better mom.

Christmas

Christmas Day

Well Santa visited our house last nigth. We have a lot of people in the family and so there are tons of presents around the tree and you can barely even have room to sit near it. Santa wrapped up the entrance of our hallway to the living room so that we couldn't peek until it was time and we got to break through the wrapping to get to the tree. We had fun opening and watching others open gifts.

Playing in the bowls again!

One of Miriam and Jacob's favorite things to do is to play in my kitchen bowls. Since we don't have a whole lot of room in the apartment they find them quickly. Today it lasted about 2 hours they were playing putting the bowls on thier heads and pretending to be different things and laughing at each other. They are so cute and creative that it is hard to be upset I have to wash them all AGAIN.

It's SNOWING???

Last winter in Utah we had a lot of snow and I didn't like it much, though I don't enjoy it in Vegas it is more of a welcome suprise than it would be in Utah. The good thing about Las Vegas is we know it is not going to stay too long so we have to enjoy it for the short time that it is around. Miriam didn't want to stand out in it for a picture, but I knew if we waited to take the picture after it stopped snowing it would all be melted already.

Workout Fun

Miriam and Jacob like to encourage me to workout even on days that I don't want to be. I have been able to lose a lot of weight in the last couple months so I do want to keep working hard, but when I don't have enough will power to do it all I have to do is invite Miriam and Jacob to join me and they really move and get me moving as well. They really enjoyed doing the step aerobics with me. Another of their favorites is when we ride our bikes, they love to go in the trailor and they know the end result is generally the park.