Labor Day in Parowan Utah

Matt's grandparents on his dad's side live in Parowan Utah. They are such a great set of people. Grandpa Thales Brown was asked to be the Grand Marshal for the Iron County Parade this year. We were so proud of them. We made the trip down to see their big moment.

We were not there at the parade yet to see their car go by (we were late and they were the first in the parade). We arrived just moments after the parade started and walked a few blocks trying to catch a glimpse at their car but they were well ahead. 

Preslee loves Parades. She dances to whatever music is playing on the floats that are going by. She claps for them. She waves to them. She really gets involved. She still doesn't care much for the candy but she still picked it up and gave it to dad. She was more into what was going on on the floats.

Matt was so good to stay with her and watch her close.

I really didn't watch the parade much, I just watched Preslee watch the parade. That was so much more entertaining for me.

These are some of Matt's cousin's (on the Brown side) kids. Of course.....as usual.... Preslee has no problem fitting in and making friends.They were all so nice to her and really rallied around her.

Watching the Parade with Aunt Kris.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Brown's house and had a little luncheon. Jami, Jim, Matt, Preslee, and I picked some peaches off of their tree so Jami and I could make jam. They have so many peach trees and they were so delicious. I would love to have fruit trees someday....... someday. 

Preslee loved Playing in this little car. I remember having one of these when I was little and my dad would tie it to his riding lawn mower and pull us around. I need to get Preslee one of these but then the question arises... Where would we put it? We will. We will figure something out. I don't want her to miss out on anything and having a pair of these kinds of wheels are wonderful memories waiting to be had.

Matt bonding with his grandma Brown. She is really frail but she is as sharp as a tack. 

This has NEVER happened. It didn't even happen that often as an infant. We really wore her out that weekend and we haven't full recovered from it yet either.

Boom Boom Mr. Brown is a wonder.. Mr Brown Makes Thunder.

"Oh the wonder sounds Mr. Brown can do. He can sound like a cow. He can go Moo Moo."

I have had this Dr. Seuss book in my head all day today because it stormed (Finally cooler weather) and there is a part that Preslee loves that says 'Boom boom Mr. Brown is a wonder. Boom boom Mr. Brown makes thunder. Splat, splat, splat. Mr. Brown makes lightning. Splat, splat. And it is very hard to make a sound like that. Preslee loves the 'splat' part. She goes ''spat spat" immediately after we turn to the page. We  also love this book because, of coarse, it is about daddad.

Today was the best. Best of the best. It was Saturday and I love Saturdays. Matt is home and I usually get so much done when he is because we tag team with Preslee. AND I can also do things like grocery shop during nap time and such. What a different it makes just going and getting it down and then if I want.... just taking my time and looking around Wal*Mart. Don't mind if I do. Mind you, it is the Providence Wal*Mart that I go to. The Logan is much too busy and... well... to be honest.. trashy.

We also went down to Layton today  to meet Ash and her family. They were up for a baptism on Nate's side of the family so we were only able to see them for a short time. But I loved every minute of it. I love it when my family is together. I just love being with Ashley. She is my very best friend and even beyond. I wish she lived closer.

Ashley was so great. She sat by Preslee and helped her eat. It was a nice break for me. Preslee was so good for her and did a good job at using her fork.

I leaned in to take a picture with Austin and he jumped out of the picture at the last moment. Oh, Lonesome me.

There. Ha! I got him!

Love these boys.

Preslee Loves her aunt Ash. She cried when they left.

We haven't taken a 'girl photo' for a while. I think we are all so beautiful.

Making mom laugh is a great time.

I loved see my family. I am just sad it was so quick and that it is over for another while. I am going to have to make a trip to St. George. 

As Mr. Brown was making lightning and thunder noises outside our car on the drive home and this is what my little miss was doing:

Not sure why she likes to have her blanket around her had but she does. She sleeps on a pillow pet (a dog we call Charley) and I think she is use to having something frame her head. 

When we got home we put her in her crib and she slept for another few hours and didn't get up until around 7:30. So tonight we were parents of the year and put Preslee to bed around 10:15 or later. Good for us I know.

During her long-late nap. We were able to finish Preslee's room. Here it is. I love love love it!!!!

Up next: Furniture and Drapes. This is going to be so fun. I have the best idea for a dresser. I just need to find the right one.

The hose and the sink

If someone were to ask how I spend my summer I would say playing out in the back yard with Preslee, The D, and water. It has been such a long hot summer.

 Most of the time it is hard for me to get ready while Preslee is awake. She is always in to everything. She likes to pull everything she can out of our cabinets and drawers. So every-once-in-a-great-while, to avoid me having to clean up another mess, I just stick her in the sink with some elastics and she loves it. That way I can do my hair and keep a close eye on her.

My sleeping beauty didn't even wake up this time when we went to get her out of bed. She normally wakes up at the sound of the door opening. She was so tired that day but it was late in the day, too late to be sleeping.

I love my little girl(S)

 I was thinking today while Preslee, D, and I were outside swimming in her pool that I am so glad that I am going to have a little girls and that they will be so close in age. Preslee was just playing by herself and with me a little and I wished that she had a little friend to play with today. She will soon enough.

The Doo Waps of Prelsee's new room.

Aug 29th 2012

We are putting Preslee in our larger front room bedroom. I am so excited. I love changing the house around and decorating it. So I have been dreaming of what I wanted to do to Preslee's new room. And I think it is coming together together nicely. I wanted to share what we have done so far.

Step one:

Plan how much supplies you will need and make a trip to Home Depot.

Make sure you take a ride on the cart.

Step Two:

Calculate where each piece of trim will need to be cut.

Step Three: Hang Trim and shelf

I love the corner shelf. Matt did such a great job.

Preslee did a good job too of marking the boards.

Step Four, Five, and Six

 Prime Shelf and Wall....

We Primed the wall even though we didn't need to because we have a lot of left over prime from when we painted our house and not a ton of the swiss coffee that is the color of our trim. So we primed so we wouldn't have to use as much swiss coffee to cover the original color. Anyway......

Measure and Mark 8" stripes. 

I know that I am showing this picture again. I painted in my 8" marks with a flat color

 Then taped. After about 8 hours of letting the flat dry.

 Then painted in my gloss.

Keep in mind that the bottomed is just primed. It will be a much warmer white.

The walls are almost finished!!!!!!!

Here is a before of the room:

Give or take a few decorations and changes.

A tale of the last 10..or so.. days

Preslee loves going on bike rides with us. This particular bike ride she was more preoccupied with her little phone and drink.

We loved our bike ride but every time we looked down at our legs we were getting bitten by a stinkin mosquito! I probably got about 8 on each leg. My Preslee came out of the ride untouched and that is what I care about. She is such a fun little Princess.

August 15th, 2012

For Our 'End of the Summer' YW activity this year I wanted to do something really fun with the YW. We decided to take Front Runner down to SLC and go visit Temple Square.

We were about 10 min our of Cache Valley when one of the LA girls  mom called and said that her girl wanted to go. There was no way we were not going to leave her. So I turned around and got her and I am so glad I did because she made it so much fun. But it did put us a little behind but that was totally ok.

After we toured the visitor's center we ate at 'The Gardens' that is on the same floor as 'The Roof' on the top floor of the JS Building. It turned out to be more expensive than I was told it would be but I just bit the bullet and ordered. Our YW budget may be feeling tight by the end of the year but we had such a great time. It was so nice to look and see the Temple. We were all so giggly during dinner and pretty much the whole time.

You could say that there were a lot of what we liked to call 'blonde moments.' Like trying to scan our paper front runner pass. My favorite was when we were going home and getting on Front runner Sister Miller got on the train and the doors closed. She turned to look at us through the window with a look of horror on her face. All the girls and sister Pritchard were freaking out and banging on the window thinking that she was going to leave without us. I said 'just push the button to open the door, the train shouldn't be leaving this early'. And it worked. We laughed so hard at our foolishness. I was about to pee my pants. I had to pause and cross my legs as I was climbing the stairs to the 2nd level of Front runner. We were all in tears. 

There were so many little things like that. We are obviously not city girls and don't understand how all the UTA stuff works. But we are all a little more educated.

We really had so much fun and made some wonderful memories together. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful bunch of YW to work with. I wish they all could have come with us.

We ran out of time to get any pictures by the reflection pool or by the temple.

"Picnic" at First Dam 

August 17th, 2012

I " " the picnic because there was no eating done by Preslee. Every time I tried to give her some sandwich she would just throw it to the ducks. She was much too busy to worry about such unimportant things such as food when there is playing to be done. When will I learn??!!!!! She loved this little outing.

These ducks were not afraid to get close. They even took the food right out of my hand.

We have bee working on the word 'Duck'. She is pretty good at saying it. I have some flash cards with pictures of animals and objects to learn. We HAD to bring the card with the duck on it. She just kept saying 'duck, duck, duck,..' over and over on the drive to First Dam while showing me the card. Such a fun kid.

Our Friend Grady.

"Duck, Duck, Duck." I think we will learn the difference between Duck and Geese at a later time.

Love feeding the ducks

Our little card. Such a fun... and hot... day.

This Saturday August 18th, 2012

Aggie Football Family Day

We are huge Aggie Fans Especially Football and B-ball. We love it. It seems we go to everything we possible can.

We hope Preslee will one day be an Aggie Fan or at least love the University of her choice as much as we love USU.

Stepping on to the new field. While they were installing this field this summer, Matt would watch it online live. To me it was the most boring thing one could do but he was enthralled. So this was a big moment for him.

The 20... the 10... Score!!!!!!!!!

I love this little girl so much

Matt is the best Daddad ever!