The girls right now...

Kendra is 14 months old and walking everywhere now! Over the past few weeks she's walked a little here and a little there, now all she wants to do is walk! She has 6 teeth and is a happy, almost 19lb. little girl. She eats almost any and everything and has a laugh that I wish I could bottle up to listen to forever.

Megan is 3 1/2 and is turning into quite the charmer. She has a pretty funny personality and prefers to be called, "Super Megan." And yes, those curls are natural. Lucky. She loves going to preschool everyday and loves putting on makeup, jewelry, dress-up clothes, lotion, hairbows, etc.

Mikayla is 6 1/2. She loves playing with her sisters, helping mom in the kitchen, and going to school. She is missing her two front teeth and from how it has changed her looks, I miss them too! She also has natural curls, but refuses to let mom put any product in them to shape them. She's a no-fuss kind of a girl who also refuses chapstick, lotion, and any other scented body anything. We think 6 years old is a great age and would love her to stay this sweet and innocent forever.

Our Graduate!

Trent graduated from Samuel Merritt University with a second bachelor's degree in nursing! It was an exciting day for our family to go downtown to the Crest Theatre for the ceremony and watch dad cross the stage.

Every new nurse gets "pinned" by another R.N. and Trent chose a favorite professor of his, Dr. Grace Cox.

We were happy to have Grandma D come down from Canada to be here for his special day. It meant a lot to Trent for him to have his mom there with him to see him get his degree.

My dad came too, so here's the whole gang right after the ceremonies.

Rather than get the man a bouquet of flowers, we made a bouquet of gift cards, lollipops, and chocolate bars! We stuck long lollipop sticks into the different candy bars and wrapped the bouquet in cellophane. A much more man-friendly bouquet if you ask me.

I wasn't quite prepared for the enormity of the ceremony to come crashing down upon me.

As the various speakers spoke of the intense studies endured this year, time away from families, and hard work that was involved in the 12 month accelerated bachelor's program-- I cried.

When his name was read off-- I cried.

When the slideshow played of pictures from the year of all students performing nursely duties in scrubs-- I cried.

When they played a Taylor Hick's song in the background of that slideshow and the words said:
My heart is full
Of endless gratitude
You were the one
The one to guide me through
Now I can see
And I believe
It's only just beginning

[Chorus:]
This is what we dream about
But the only question with me now
Is do I make you proud
Stronger than I've ever been now
Never been afraid of standing out
Do I make you proud

I guess I’ve learned
To question is to grow,
That you still have faith,
Is all I need to know,
I’ve learned to love,
Myself in spite of me,
And I’ve learned to
Walk on the road I believe.

-- I cried. And yes, honey. You make me proud. Very, very proud.

It was a long year. To say the least. Dad had a lot of school, a lot of homework, a lot of clinicals, a lot of work, a lot of church responsibilities, a lot of daddy responsibilities. And he did it all. After 8 years of marriage and 3 beautiful daughters, we are ready for the next chapter of our life.

So from me and the girls, "Congratulations! You did it! And we couldn't be more proud of you!"

We celebrated with a trip to our favorite ice cream store, Tops Yogurt.

And then back home where Trent got a pretty super-neat present from my parents: a Wii! We are all having lots of fun with Daddy's gift!

The Polar Express

As the Ward Activities Director for our ward at church I was in charge of planning and putting on the ward Christmas party. Well, my goal was to be un-traditional. I tried to do something different than had been done before for each activity I've planned. This was no exception. Rather than a dressy, ham dinner with a program full of carols, I opted for a more kid-friendly, casual and comfortable evening.

As people arrived they were given a ticket to ride the Polar Express. Tickets were punched upon entering the gym where everyone then found a seat. We had a fabulous tri-tip dinner with green salad, rolls, and homemade mac 'n cheese. Everyone was to come in their pajamas as they do in the movie/book.

I made a ton of these 3-d snowflakes to hang from the center of the room and basketball hoops etc.

My friend let me borrow her 18ft. train that is part of her yard decoration for the holidays. We had a short program after eating. All the children were invited to come sit on the floor and we had a conductor reading the story of the Polar Express aloud. He stopped reading periodically for a few musical numbers. The Young Women and I did a dance to the song, "Hot Chocolate."

A group of girls, including Mikayla, sang a very sweet rendition of "When Christmas Comes To Town," also from the movie. And my friend Sydney sang a solo to Josh Groban's "Believe." I was able to download karaoke versions of those songs so we didn't need a piano accompanist and were able to use the actual music sans vocals to back up our musical numbers. After the program, the big man in red showed up with bells on! He also gave the children a bell on a necklace in keeping with the tradition of the Polar Express story as well. Megan loved sitting with Santa and telling him just what she wanted for Christmas--Barbies, Tinkerbells, princesses, and things of that nature. Kendra, on the other hand--

--did not. Oh well, maybe next year!

We fed 190 people at our activity and all in all, I think it was a great success! I was completely stressed in the weeks prior to the activity with all the planning, food buying/preparing, phone call making, decorating, practicing of songs/dances, etc. etc. I had NO idea how much work goes into a Christmas party for that many people! I can honestly say there are things I would do differently next time, but I think for my first one, I did a pretty good job.

I broke out with 3 zits from the stress of the stupid thing. I was mighty happy as soon as the activity was over to be washing the 23 tablecoths and adding up receitps to know that my sanity and complexion would soon be restored.

Cowan Craft Fair

I made these post-it note holders. It's an easel-type frame so the post-its will rest on a desk surface ready for the using.

I then packaged them in cellophane bags and attached little bag toppers to them, ready to be given as presents.

Here they are all lined up on my booth at the fair.

I made these nugget tins as well. Each is filled with 12 assorted Hershey's chocolate nugget candies and each candy is wrapped and then a decorative band is glued on the tin. Each one was slightly different, though I used coordinating Christmas papers. They are great little teacher gifts, coworker gifts, or stucking stuffers.

I made 9 nursing covers with an adjustable d-ring closure around the neck and flexible boning in the front to allow you to still see baby while nursing, but discreetly enough so that no one else sees any part of you!

I made a bunch of covered baby wipes cases as well. Each is a Huggies travel case with 18 wipes inside and is covered with fabric to co-ordinate with the nursing covers.
Here's my table all set up with a special little helper behind it. Mikayla helped me set up and sat with me while waiting for her school choir to perform. The Craft fair is a big fundraiser for the school and there were 31 vendors this year with everything ranging from hairbows, jewelry, clocks, blankets, chocolate pretzels, puzzles, homemade knick-knacks, pottery, and on and on.

Would I do it again? Probably not. Yes, I enjoy crafting, but in the end, I don't think the hours of time every night for weeks, all the sewing, hot glue gun burns, cost of materials, trips to the store for more supplies, and stress of figuring out the "right" amount of stuff to make was worth the $200 I made. I am chalking it up to another item checked off my bucket list of life. I'm glad I did it. But I think I'll craft for me and friends in the future. I was glad to help out the school with a fundraiser, but think I will politely excuse myself from participating in the future!

Adult Christmas Party

Our holiday season started off with a fun annual adult Christmas party complete with games, a white elephant exchange, yummy food, karaoke, and lots of catching up with friends.
One of the games, a "Minute To Win It" game where you had to pick a bag up off the floor using only your teeth and nothing but your feet could touch the ground. I'm pleased to say I got all the bags including the one that was only an inch and a half high!

Another game where I raced Trent and we had to swing a banana tied from our waist to move two oranges from one side of the room across the finish line on the other side of the room. Thanks to my awesome hip action, I totally beat Trent. A little karaoke is always fun!

What we won in the gift exchange, a package of Bump-It's for me and the second season of Alf on dvd--which the girls have already watched and is a new favorite of Mikayla's! Such a fun time at the party!

I Pledd Alleesance To Da Fwag...

Quite a lot of words for such a little thing! I think it's cute that they say the Pledge of Allegiance in Megan's preschool class everyday. Of course she has no idea what the words mean, but hearing her say the word "indivisible" just makes my day!

Happy Thanksgiving to You!

Wow, don't they look excited to be dressed up?! Our three littest pilgrim and Indians.
Chloe with baby Bridget.

That's right, we're hardcore around here. Even dress up for the turkey carving.

And to answer the age-old question of what will I be this year? I went for classic, easy, but cute. Yeah, a simple Indian frock over my clothes. Cop-out? Maybe. But the feathers are legit.

The gang's all here! We were lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Brown join us this year too! Lots of fun with everyone around.

And for some reason, there's gotta be a silly one!

Tim, Michelle, and Bryson at the dinner table.

IDK.

Just because it makes me smile. Hope your day was grand and full of thanks for all we have been given.

My T-Shirt Refashion

I took a basic v-neck Old Navy shirt of Mikayla's that she'd almost grown out of and cut it from the middle of the v-neck down to the bottom of the shirt. I cut 2 1-inch strips off the bottom of shirt and sewed those together to make one really long 1-inch strip.

Sewed a gathering stitch down the length and well, gathered it.

I pressed and hemmed the bottom of the shirt and the middle. Then I arranged my long ruffle snake around the neck and cascading down the shirt a bit. And then pinned it. A lot.

I really wanted to make sure that ruffle wasn't going anywhere!

Using the same color thread, I merely stitched the thing down along the new neckline and added a hook and eye closure in the front of the new cardigan.
Voila! I think it may just be cuter than before!

Either that or my model just makes it look that way! Now go try this! I made one for me too! It's like the 15-minute shirt-to-cardigan that is super easy and ruffle-y and fun!