To Shop!

I this last weekend I went shopping with some friends at a great store in San Francisco. We started our adventure with finding our parking garage, which was in between the pedicures at Silk and the H&M store. We had a fantabulous pedicure, leg massage, and sitting massage. We ventured on to the streets of San Francsico and walked for a while to get the clothing extrazaganza of all stores. The prices were great and the enviroment was electric. When I walked in and didn't know quit where to start. So using my deductive reasoning I just moved from one section to the next, just fill up my arms, tried on the clothes, walk out with 2 or 3 things that fit great. I think I was in the dressing room 7 or 8 times before I made my final choices(I tried on 11 to 15 things each time). Time seemed to just stand still, well we know that it really can't do that, but it was the best 3 to 4 hours of shopping I have ever done. Probably because I was with out any children. Yeah, I got a free afternoon/evening with great company, and a store that you could just get lost in. I know that I will have to do a by-yearly trip. We ended our evening with a great dinner at Santorini(I think that is how it is spelled) a Mediterranean Resturant. I am so greatful for the best husband in the whole world that came home from work, so that I could get out and play with some friends.

Olden Times!

Isaac is so funny. He keeps asking me questions that start with "Mom in the olden times did they have this...." Today the question was "Mom in olden times did they have Star Wars?" I told him that Star Wars came out in the olden times first and now kids his age are getting to enjoy the things that the people like Christian and myself got to enjoy.
He asked us if they had cars in the olden times--you know when We were little. I think it is funny to think of me growing up in the olden times. I guess to a 6 year old, 30 something belongs in the olden times. I wonder how Nicole will look at us when she turns 6 or even 12. Will we be in the super olden times.

Isaac waiting for the tooth fairy!

Isaac lost his first top tooth yesterday. We had so much fun with friends that he forgot to put his tooth under his pillow. So tonight he remembered that he needed the tooth fairy to come for his tooth. He put his tooth under his pillow and layed down. I was walking down the hall and noticed that he was a sleep, or so I thought. He opened his eyes, sat up, lifted his pillow. To his suprise his tooth was still under his pillow (he had only been in bed about 10 minutes). He looked at the baggie his tooth is in and said " I know I was a sleep for at least 1/2 hour, why would the tooth fairy not take my tooth." I just love that he thought she would come , even if he was not a sleep.

A boat with no oars is....well, indicative of a very tough childhood

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!!!!

Aaron and his missing tooth!

I taught Aaron's CTR 6 primary class on sunday. One of his little friends had lost her tooth in the past week or so. He was so excited for her and the buzz in the class surrounded all the others that had lost their teeth. SO to make a long story short. We had been home from church about 2 hours, when Aaron came out of his room and informed me that his right front bottom tooth was ready to be pulled out. I was a little unsure of what he was talking about. I looked in his mouth and sure enough he has wiggled his tooth so much (with such determination) that it had to be pulled out. He acted like it was Christmas. He got up in the middle of the night because he could not find his tooth. Christian found the money that the Tooth Fairy left for him. Well, you know how little kids are with the things they recieve , He had to sleep with it until the sun came up at 5:30am-He then came and woke Christian up and asked if it was time to get up. I have a small idea of how Christmas will go at our home this year.

So today Isaac (who has 3 loose teeth) has decided that he needs to get them out of his mouth and has been working on them since this morning. We have one that is close but being stubborn.

The month of July and Aug.

We spent the second weekend in Aug. with our friends the Bybee's at Lake Kirkwood for 3 days and 2 nights of camping. This was the best place we have ever camped. It is so beautiful and there are granite boulders that protrude from the ground everywhere. The kids chased Chipmunks, climbed and slid down the boulders. They were so dirty that I didn't think they would ever come clean. We will be camping here again in the future. When Nicole starts to sleep through the night, we can camp for a long period of time. Until then 1 night will do.

Isaac, Aaron, and Nicole on the last day before we went home. (The pants Aaron is wearing didn't make it home. He slid down the boulders so many times he wore 2 big holes in the bum)

We had so much fun camping with our friends the Bybee's. They have 3 kids and everyone played so well together.

Hank and Nicole found several bottles of water and made mud. When we found them they told us they were dirty little chipmunks.

On Aug 4th 2008 Isaac and Aaron started a new year of school. They were so excited the first day and the fun lasted for about 2 weeks, now they have deciced that they need to be off track and not getting up @ 6:50 AM every morning. The best part is they will go off track in November so I am sure they will be happy to get up at 6:50 and play.

Christian and some of the guys in our stake went to Tahoe and did the Fume Trail. It is an old flume that was used to carry water. This is an annual event for them and as Christian puts it "this is our book club for the year."

Isaac and Aaron took swim lessons for 2 weeks in July. They loved them and Nicole had a crush on teacher Chris.