Thank goodness for pictures

It has been a few months since we have made any posts to the Brown Family Blog. We have been so busy with a hundred different things.

Holly & I were looking at pictures we've taken over the last few months, and realized that there are alot of important events that we captured on film, but did not capture on the blog. So we are making up for lost time and have gone crazy posting pictures.

We hope you enjoy....and would love to hear from all of you on the blog!

You can click on the pictures to enlarge if you'd like.

What's better than a Knight in Shining Armor?

Five of them!

Musketeers in Training!

Protecting the Fair Maiden from the vicious dragon!

Princess Harper is saved by the 5 Musketeers!

Valiant Musketeers: Packer, Travis, Weston, Holland & Cannon

Photo Blog: Halloween Parties

The weekend before Halloween was jam packed with lots of fun activities.

On Friday night we all went to the Barnyard Boo at Thanksgiving Point. They have carnival games, a haunted hayride, pony rides, a headless horseman, cookie decorating, etc.

Then on Saturday we spent the full day at Cornbellys. At cornbellies they have a hay maze, inflatable trampoline, pumpkin & corn on the cob missles, go carts, a cow train, pig races, and other games and activites. The kids loved it and it kept them entertained for hours.

Saturday night we had the neighborhood halloween party at the Kenny's house. All 5 of the boys went to the party. Packer & Travis were also invited to Emilee's birthday party Saturday night, so they had to party hop to both parties. It was a great weekend!

Photo Blog: Preschool Halloween Festivities

Cannon decided to be Thomas the Train for his preschool Halloween party. He looked adorable in the costume. Holly reminded me that this was Grandpa Noal's favorite costume back when Holland was Thomas the Train. We wish we could run over and visit grandpa and show him that the costume still looks great!

At the party, the kids did a parade through the school, did a short halloween program with songs and spooky actions, made witch's brew, and decorated pumpkin cookies. Cannon had a great time. His buddy Josh is in the monkey costume below.

Photo Blog: Halloween Fun

Aunt Suzi, Aunt Shannon, & G&G Brown all sent packages of fun Halloween crafts, games & books. We made chocolate spiders, played hide the skeleton bones, carved pumpkins, made life size skeletons, played pin the nose on the pumpkin, read probably 15 Halloween books, and had lots of silly fun.

Thank you Suzi, Shannon, and G&G for all the fun stuff! These were the perfect activities for a long Sunday afternoon!

Photo Blog: First Day of Preschool

We have been working with Cannon all summer to make sure he is potty trained in time to go to preschool. Preschool started at the beginning of September, but Cannon had still not conquered the diaper. One afternoon in mid September, Cannon went to his friend's house to play (Josh, who is in the preschool class that Cannon should be attending). We're not sure what happened, but when Cannon came home from Josh's house, he was potty trained. Josh must have been more persuasive then we were regarding the perks of being potty trained.

So Cannon now gets to go to "his brothers' school" for preschool. He is so excited to be at the same school as Packer and Holland. He LOVES preschool and is convinced that he has just as much homework as Packer and Holland. He gets out his backpack when it's homework time and works on his important papers. Hopefully he is this enthusiastic about homework when he really has homework!

Photo Blog: Pinewood Derby

Packer did a great job at his first pinewood derby. He worked very hard with Grandpa Harper to shape and sand his car. Then he worked with his mom to get the perfect paint job and design. He got an award for the car design and placed in the top five (out of 20 cars) for speed. He had a great time and is already making plans for next years pinewood derby.

Packer also got to participate in his first flag seremony. He is loving cub scouts and has already earned several badges.

Photo Blog: Random Pictures of Harper

We all know that the main pictures Grandma Brown wants to see are of baby Harper. Here are a few random pictures we have snapped of Harper over the last few months.

This is the boys favorite dress of Harper's. They think this is how every little girl should be dressed...in lots of pink, lots of lace, and lots of ruffles. Travis and Westin have adopted Harper as their own baby sister. They ask Holly all the time if they can pick out her clothes and get Harper dressed. The other day Travis came to us and said "The one thing I really want is a baby sister." Travis is so sweet to Harper. If Harper makes one sad sound, he is the first one to run over and pick her up. Harper is very loved!

Harper is a very happy baby. She always has a big smile. When she wakes up in the morning, she just lays there and smiles, no crying at all. She is very sweet.

Harper just goes with the flow. She'll let the boys play silly games with her. She can also fall asleep anywhere we may be, no matter how loud it is. She is a good baby.

Photo Blog: First Day of School

School started early this year -- on August 15th. The school is expanding to include a junior high and enrollment wil go up from 585 to 1000 students. The new junior high will not be completed until January 1, 2008. In order to accomodate 1000 students at the beginning of the school year, they are following a modified track system. Basically there are 4 tracks, but only 3 tracks can attend at a time. Our kids will have 2 breaks during the fall semester (each one about 2 1/2 weeks long). In January, the new school will be open and they can return to the traditional school calendar.

Packer started third grade and his teacher is Mrs. Hansen. He is very excited to be in the same class as his best friend Will. He is also in the same class as Mark & Laura Willis' grandson -- Joseph.

Holland is in first grade and is excited to be able to eat lunch at school! His teacher is Mrs. Poulsen. He is in the same class as his beach buddies -- Emma & Katie.

Photo Blog: Draper's Safety Fair

This was a fun activity they had in Draper.