One of my beautiful friends Halli featured my post on her blog here, you can read the specific post here.  I've known Halli for years.  We went to the same high school.  My besties and I looked up to her then and still look up to her.  She has a fun, photo-filled blog that you will enjoy reading.  I love her commitment to her family and religion.  She has very creative posts and you should definitely check out her blog.

Thanks Halli!

Pearly Shella was baptized over the weekend. She is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are so blessed that we have her in our family. She has always been such a sweet, loving and beautiful child. We will cherish the time we have to watch her develop all of her divinely inherited qualities. We love you so much sweet Pearly Shella! Thank you for your great example of being Christlike.

We Love You,
Daddy, Mommy and your family.

{To KTT....Have a great week! FT&P always love you honey~}

This past weekend we were blessed to celebrate our nephew Elder Brown's farewell.  He will be serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Roseville, California mission.  Just from hearing his farewell talk,  we know that he will be a fantastic missionary. We are so happy with his decision. Our kids have been talking about becoming missionaries when they grow up, because they want to be like Elder Brown, I love hearing them get excited about missionary work.  They have asked me questions about missionary work. I love that they are interested in doing something so important.  My husband and I never went on our missions, but we both feel that it is something very important.  I am grateful that our kids are learning this. I have told them that although they are not missionaries,  they can help share the gospel through their testimonies.

 My parents have 12 sons, 2 daughters, 54 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. He's my parents first grandchild to become a missionary.  I love having such a large family. I have so many nephews and nieces to enjoy.  They are such a big part of my life.  It just amazes me how quickly they have grown up.  I am the youngest of my parents 14 children and I am lucky to have grown up with some of my nieces and nephews.  I have been lucky to have some fun times hanging out with them or babysitting them.  I am so proud of each of them.  I am also proud that some of them have attended my favorite school...The University of Utah. Go UTES! lol!  (Had to throw that in there!)   I am very grateful for each of them.  They are great examples to me and my family. They are such great kids, seriously...the best!  We will definitely miss you Elder Brown!  See you in 2 years, return with honor!  Love you Elder Brown!

(To my husband...thanks for all of your strength and faith,  I have been so blessed by your encouragement, support and love.  It means more than the world to me.  FT&P Always! XOXOXOXO!)

I just submitted my application for the local community college and applied for financial aid. Just a few more things to do and I will be ready for Fall 2012...I am definitely excited!  I am sure my husband is too.  Thank goodness that he is such a smarty pants,  he will be a great tutor. :) Love the way that things become more motivating and I look forward to making our plans a reality.  I hope that we will be able to balance all the things we have to do in the fall of 2012.  I know it will not be easy,  but it will definitely be worth it.  (Reminds me of an awesome quote.)   Just wanted to tell my husband, that I love and appreciate all that he does for our family.  He is amazing and I hope that he knows how much I love him and that I truly appreciate his love and dedication to our family. He does his best to endure the hard things.  He has some amazing strength and faith.  He keeps me humble and has helped me to become a better wife and mother.   (I love you honey!) Good luck to my fellow mom-friends who will be entering college in the fall! Here's to 2012!

 Christmas this year was definitely a lot better for our family.  As parents it is definitely a blessing to see them growing up so fast and to observe how much they have learned.  We all have our moments when we wish things would be easier.  But it is so important that we remember to be thankful for the things we are blessed to enjoy.  We started the Christmas 2011 celebration with some much needed family time.  We loved playing games with our kids and watching them color pictures to enjoy. They sang their songs for us and we enjoyed it so much.

Christmas week,  we continued the celebration on the 23rd.  We went to visit my brother and his wife and 3 year old daughter.  They were so sweet to invite us for dinner then presented the kids with gifts. Our kids were definitely thrilled--not to mention, amazingly well mannered when opening their gifts.  They didn't realize it but they had just received the first of many gifts from their Secret Santas.....


 The next day, Christmas Eve, they were blessed with a Secret Santa that dropped off more gifts for each of them.  Clothing, Toys and hair accesories for the girls.  We saved those gifts for Christmas day.
Christmas Eve,  we celebrated at our traditional Browns family Christmas party.

We played games, had a soup buffet and desserts, did our nativity re-enactment and finished off with our white elephant gift exchange and the kids decorating Sugar cookies for Santa.

(We can't forget how funny it was when the kids uncle and cousin were wrestling...pretty sure that our nephew won! lol!)

The kids played with their cousins and then we finished off the day watching movies at home.










Christmas morning we woke up and the kids were super excited to open up their gifts from "Santa".  We spent our time with Tupea family.  The kids opened their presents from Santa along with their cousins. We skipped our traditional breakfast and had some cereal.  We attended church for an hour and enjoyed the nice sacrament meeting program centered on the Birth of Christ.  After church we came home,  ate a HUGE lunch/dinner which consisted of Salmon,  Palusami,  Pot Roast,  Potatoes, Rice,  Baked Chicken  and later we enjoyed some scrumptious desserts.  After dinner the kids watched movies and played with some of their new gifts.  Afterwards, my husbby and I were able to relax and talk about our day. (The final part of Christmas that truly made it a great Christmas.)  The time we were able to spend together as a couple and with our families is priceless.





We are grateful for the many "Secret Santas" who gave so freely of their time and gifts for the kids.  But more importantly we are so grateful that we have a knowledge of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  We are so blessed to celebrate his birth.  There is a God,  he hears and answers our prayers.  Our Savior's atonement is a testament of Him.  We love our family and friends and look forward to the blessings coming in 2012.  Happy New Year, from our family to yours.

FT&P Always...(I luv you honey! Thank your for blessing me with your love, definitely the best gift!)

The kids had their annual Singing in the round, while I love the music...I dislike the set up. I am a bit frustrated with this post because my baby boy was being very naughty running around and touching things, so I could hardly capture everything I wanted to. I dislike singing in the round because I can never get good shots of all of the kids. So here is my crappy video work the only ones that worked for now...Blogger video uploading is so annoying...it doesn't work as well as it used to and the only photos I could take. :(

(To KTT: Sorry honey. I will try uploading one more via YouTube so check back if you want....FT&P Always! xoxoxoxo I love you so much!!)

Have a very Merry Christmas!