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A few updates on Volume 2, head over if you haven't seen them :)

Here!

Volume 1 Closed

In order to continue blogging and not have to pay the Google "man", I've started a new blog.  It's just a continuation of our story so head on over...

Brown Biographies Volume 2

Our Family Picture

Well this picture is probably the last one I'll be able to upload until I figure out my storage issue.  

This is our family at Rachel and CD's wedding.  It was such a beautiful day and we're so happy for them.  

July is shaping up to be a bit crazy.  I guess I'll be living a lot more and blogging a lot less.

Birthday Boys

June is a big birthday month for us.  My boys have birthdays 10 days apart.  This year Stryder turned 9 and Soren turned 6.  I love these boys of mine so much!

Stryder is slowing but surely shaping into an incredible young man.  He is so tender-hearted and really wants to be a good boy, he just has this wiggle monster inside him that can really drive me crazy.  On an average day, Stryder can be found tormenting his sister, playing xbox with his brother, putting together a huge Lego set by himself, watching Mythbusters on Netflix, driving his mom crazy, or being a huge helper.  I love you wild and crazy boy of mine.  Happy Birthday Stryder!

Soren is turning into "the class clown".  He makes us laugh all the time and has said some of the funniest random things.  This past week he informed anyone who would listen that "burning weed makes you feel good" and that "unicorns make him pee"!  I really don't know where this kid came from but I'm sure glad he's a part of our family.  On an average day, Soren can be found playing xbox, dressing up with his brother, playing xbox, eating a snack, playing xbox while eating a snack, getting a back tickle from his mom, or making everyone laugh.  Oh Soren, how boring life would be without you in our world.  I love you baby boy.  Happy Birthday Soren!

June...oh what a month!

June has just flown by!  I can't believe it's almost July!  This Brown family has been super busy this month...once school was out we didn't have much time before we were packing up for a week long stay in Utah (without the dad in the middle, boo).  Here's some of what we did.

I attended a photography workshop with Kristen Duke and it was awesome.  I already had her "Say NO to Auto" e-book, but sitting down in person with her really helped me understand my camera on Manual.

I helped throw another bridal shower for my sister-in-law Rachel.  

I did her wedding pictures too.

More of those pictures to follow.

Ben stood in on Mason Grant's baby blessing.  He has been a long awaited addition and it was so special seeing all those men bless him.  It was father's day and that was an incredible meeting.  Such a strong spirit of love for our fathers of this earth and our Heavenly Father.  So grateful we were there to be apart of it.

My Soren boy is hilarious and I feel so lucky to be his mom.

The kids soaked up and enjoyed the cooler Utah weather and lots of time was spent outside.  It was such a fun week even if I we missed Ben.  That last weekend up there was the wedding and it was exhausting but so so worth every minute of it.  We are so happy for Rachel and CD!

As soon as we came home, there was not much time for relaxing.  Cub Scout Day camp has been this week.  The theme was Cubbing Down Under, so lots of Aussie inspired activities and crafts.  Stryder loved it even if it was super hot.

The last day of camp, parents and siblings were allowed to come and see the Australian animals that came to visit.  There was an Emu,

 Some lizard I don't remember the name of but we all got to touch it,

A baby kookaburra that was so cute, 

And a joey kangaroo, with such soft fur.  I spent one of the days as a leader and really enjoyed watching my boy learn and explore new things.

  

I'm really hoping July will be a bit more relaxing and lazy.

Last Day of School

We survived another school year!  Once again my kids are growing too fast and all three will start school in the fall.  Not cool!

Shelby made the 'A' Honor Roll and won a Silver medal for reading.  And looks way too grown up in this picture.

We simply loved Ms Bailey this year!  She was great with Shelby and made sure she stayed challenged throughout the year.  She was also very patient with Shelby's smarty-pants ways.  We will really miss her.

Ms Cooperider was awesome!  We loved her too and really appreciate all her hard work and patience and love toward Stryder.  I'm going to miss her too!  Stryder also won a couple awards.  He got a certificate for Excellence in Attendance and his class voted him the winner of the True Friend award.

Every year I love looking back at their pictures from the first day of school and compare it to the last day.  Boy these kids have grown way too much and Stryder needs a haircut! 

I can't believe another school year has come to a close.  Can I really have a 4th grader next year?!?!  And my baby in kindergarten?!?!  Craziness!!  Well, we plan on enjoying this summer and hoping that time will slow down for just a little bit.

A Before and After

So today I realized the shirt I was wearing fit me different than I had remembered.  I've been wearing Ben's Captain America shirt which is 2 sizes bigger than mine, but for some reason this morning I decided to pull mine out instead.  Then I remembered the first time I wore this shirt...

I still have a long way to go but this comparison really keeps me motivated.

In the Pool

We had our first swim of the season this past weekend.  My parents, with all of our strong encouraging, rented a pool for the summer.  And it's awesome!! I'm actually looking forward to the summer now knowing that we've got a place to cool off at.  I told the kids we'd swim Friday after school but Mother Nature didn't want us to and blew crazy strong winds all day long.  Then Saturday was out because she cooled it down.  So Monday came and the weather was perfect, the water however, was still quite cold.  The kids all had blue lips by the time we finally got them out.  I'm so excited for a green hair, sun kissed, very wet summer!

E-I-E-I Oops!

Shelby is a star!  She performed in her first grade play this week and did an amazing job.  She played the Farmer's Wife and quietly simply was perfect.  I can see her doing great things when she gets older.  

The play was all about Old MacDonald's cow who wouldn't Moo.  Shelby really got the crowd going trying to get that cow to moo.

She danced around and sang the songs and made her parents proud!  Not to brag, but I was told afterward that all the first grade teachers just loved Shelby and thought she was great at her part.

 She's so tall, that gorgeous girl of mine.

Here she is with her cousin Olivia, who played a dog.  Olivia had a couple lines and did awesome as well!

For the afternoon performance, Shelby was a dancer.  They did this cute number about being Cute Chicks, it was adorable.

I had the idea to bring Shelby flowers, but her daddy gave them to her and got all the credit and joy from her.  She just lit up when he handed them to her.  I'm so proud of this little not so little, girl of mine.

Lost Tooth

Last Friday night my littlest boy lost his first tooth.  Apparently, he pulled it out easily all by himself and it was a good thing seeing that adult tooth already growing in behind.  He was so excited to have the tooth fairy finally visit him after seeing several visits to his brother and sister.  Luckily, she found him, since he was at his Grandma Brown's house for a sleepover.  Now he starts the goofy toothless smile phase...no more baby face.