After watching the presidential conventions over the last two weeks and listening to the obligatory hard-luck story associated with each of the candidates... you know, the daddy-didn't-love-me-and-I-ate-dirt-while-living-in-a-humble-shack-but-mama-picked-me-up-by-the-bootstraps-and-sent-me-to-a-prestigous-law school story, or the can't-comb-my-own-hair-because-my-arms-don't-work-on-account-of-being-tortured-for-five-years story I wondered what kind of hard luck story our children would tell if they were trying to paint a picture of their own humble beginnnings.
Well, I had a glimpse of what might be said during that convention speech and it goes something like this: Isaac grew up in a small home on the North side of Sacramento, sharing a bunkbed with his brother. His room was barely big enough to hold the bunkbed they shared, let alone the small hand-me-down computer, running an outdated version of Windows 95, and an amazingly small 512mb of RAM. His toys, equally modest, consisted of a hodge-podge assortment of Legos, Matchbox cars, and a cache of plastic weaponry that would barely outfit a small town militia. His father, a humble yet handsome lunch-pail miner eeked out a meager living by working for "the man" and dreaming of the day when circumstance would lead to a better tomorrow. His mother, a saint of a woman, labored tirelessly caring for the three children to whom she would devote the best years of her life. She, sacrificing a shot at a big-city job with a big-city paycheck to care for her family, knew that education and opportunity for her children could, in a real sense, change the world. Change, yes....that is what America is all about. To rise above the mediocrity and same-ness of middle-class suburbian life, to stand-up against those who would hold you down.
Isaac and Aaron recall with a smile the time their parents scrapped together a few dollars before a holiday weekend to purchase a small 2-man inflatable boat...no, hardly a boat it was more like a dingy...no, a raft would characterize it best. Small guage plastic, very thin when compared to the other kids rafts, but non-the-less it was a bright spot in an otherwise bleak existence. Isaac remembers well spending hours with his brother Aaron and some close family friends playing pirates, and Jaws, and throw-your-brother-overboard type games on that raft. However, Isaac's boat was different from the other kids. Not only was the plastic thin and the graphics poor, his boat had no oars. Yes, you heard that right, no oars! Isaac and Aaron yearned for the day that they too could paddle their humble dingy around the lake just like the other "privileged" kids. But, alas, it was not to be. One day however, they promised themselves, they would be back.....with oars!
It is with great honor, that tonight we nominate for President of the United States, Isaac Brown and his VP Aaron Brown. And it is tonight that we say to America to rise up! Put on your life jackets! Rise up, inflate your dingys', or your rafts, or your arm floaties! Today, America can say with vim and vigor that this country is no longer like that raft of old floating aimlessly in Lake Natoma, anchored only by an insignificant rock tied to a rope using a very bad knot as security! No, America now has two brothers who know the meaning of struggle! Who know the meaning of starting small! Who know that someday, yes someday, no......they know that TODAY Americans everywhere can begin to move forward with OARS! Yes, they will not be denied the oars that their parents could not provide any longer! This country will no longer be rudder-less... err... oar-less! They will be like pit-bulls, without lipstick of course, paddling furiously towards freedom and prosperity for all!
Now that, my friends, is CHANGE you can believe in!!!!
Lone Peak (We miss our mountains)
We celebrated Cade's birthday. I think this is a great way to eat a cake, just dive right in.
We are teaching our kids young how to play the slots (fun times at Christian's Aunt and Uncles home) 
The one thing Nicole asked for when we went to see her grandma's and papa's was to have my parents take her to the Zoo. So on Thanksgiving Morning we walked around the Hogle Zoo.
Nicole, Madelyn, Jillian had so much fun playing together
Aaron is the Christmas "Ferre" .
The making of the cookies.
Nicole and some of her little friends at the pumpkin patch. They had wagons for us to use to collect the pumpkins we wanted to buy, but Nicole thought it was great just to give the pumpkins a ride around the patch.
One of the first rainy days of winter. My kids and some of their friends were playing with pillow cases and pretending they were rocks.
