Summer has come and gone...

Man oh man it has been a very busy summer and life is FINALLY settling down! I seem to blog like this so I guess I will just keep with tradition and talk about what has been happening as we go through the pictures!

 

I really do want to be better at blogging, I will get there someday lol.

  

So my brother Landon left on his mission at the beginning of the month. It is always hard to say good-bye but this one seemed a little better. Probably because this is brother #3 that has left and it helped that he was so stinking excited. He could not get the smile off his face!

This was at the airport right before he left. When Landon gets home Kayla will be almost 3! That will be so crazy!

 We had family pictures with my family before Landon left which was a lot of fun. It will be fun to see how they turn out!!

 We were able to visit Mikes family in Utah a few weeks ago and we had a blast! The first day we went swimming and Kayla loved it! It was her first time!  

 Another day the entire family traveled down to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. I think that was the first mini vacation we have had as the Brown family! It was a very hot and somewhat humid day. I really thought I was in a southern state! None the less we had a wonderful time! 

Kayla didn't always realize what was going on but she did love it when she could see the big animals moving! It's a good thing she loves her stroller!   

 On our way home from the Zoo we went to visit Michael's Grandma, Grandma Magnusson. It was good to see her and let her play with the great grand kids!

 Grandma and Grandpa Brown and all their grand kids! 

My dad had tickets to the Broncos first home game and he invited us to go with him! It was a total blast! He had 6 tickets but four of them were together in one section and the other two were FIRST row on the northeast corner right by the end zone. Ya we were the lucky two that got the front row seats! It was a great night!

 So Kayla is a big 9 months now! I can't even believe it!

 We had her well baby check up just last week and she is doing grand!

97th% in head circumference

96th% in height (29.5in)

and 73% in weight (20lbs 3oz)

 She is nice and big just like her parents! It is a love/hate relationship with her growing up... it is oh so fun but very sad at the same time.

 Here are a few fun facts about Kayla!

*Her two bottom front teeth at the beginning of July. We are now waiting for the top two teeth :)

* She loves to be outside! Any walk we take she doesn't say a word!

* The stroller is one of her favorite places to be

* She is in a growling stage. If you growl back at her she smiles and does it again just louder. It is her new favorite game!* She also is in the stage of fake coughing

* Her two favorite songs are Tiny Turtle and I'm a Little Tea Pot. She stops in her tract to listen to you!

* She is walking along side the couch and getting faster by the day

* Sometimes her gibber jabber sounds like words, it kind of freaks us out! 

* The face that she has below is what she is doing about 85% of the time! So cute!

* We have found that she is very very ticklish and now will laugh when you tickle her!
* The past few weeks she has become very needy. Some days are worse than others but sometimes if you are not in the same room as her or if you are not looking at her she SCREAMS and cries like the world is coming to the end. It is quite sad. I hope this stage comes to an end soon. It is very hard to get ANYTHING done lol. I do love the snuggle time though!
* All of a sudden she will not sleep through the night. She was for awhile but then after we went to Utah for our visit, she don't think it is cool anymore. She will wake up between 4:30 and 5:00 and go back to sleep if I snuggle her or give her a bottle. I am working on coming up with a solution. So far changing her bed time (doing it earlier and later) and stuffing her full is not making a difference. Any suggestions would be welcomed!  

 AND for our biggest news....

 Oh nothing is safe any more. This was one of the first times she did this so she was still a little uncoordinated. She has since gotten very VERY fast and good! At the same time she started going from her tummy to sitting which she had not done before! It is all so cool.
I know I know. I am a first time mom. I am enjoying every moment of it though!
 The funny part is she is not fond of the linoleum or wood floor. She touches it and retracts her hand back very quickly and cries if she does get on it. It is so funny!

 

So there is a quick update and I will try and bring another soon!

Oh so busy

I am proud to say that we have been oh so busy the past month with anything and everything! So once again I will let the pictures tell the story and give my two bits here and there!

Michael's first fathers day was awesome! Kayla gave a dad a home made card and a certificate to go on a daddy daughter date!

Madi stayed with us while my parents were in Brazil picking Cameron up from his mission and while they were gone Madi turned the big15! I think she had a pretty good birthday!

 I had to take Madi the other day to get a MRI and Kayla was so good and happy! All the nurses who walked by, Kayla had to sit and talk to them! She was so cute!

 Well this is an entertaining story. My friend Emily and I and Madi went to Walmart the other day. We finished shopping and my car wouldn't start! I had Madi track down Emily and we attempted to jump my car using Em's car (with the help of a manly man that we tracked down). He was unable to get it to start as well even using his nice jeep! We decided to say a quick prayer and try the car one last time! On our second try another man stopped by to help us. Well his much older mother who was from England began to yell at him because they were going to be late to wherever they were going! She even told us "can't you go find another nice man to help you?" We didn't even ask for his help! Well he kept telling his mom to get into the car because it was going to take her ten minutes to get in! It was all too comical. So Em ended up taking Madi and I home. Mike and I ran back over to WalMart later and had it towed by Andre the (very dirty) giant! It is hard to tell in the picture but the guy had to be Mikes age and 7 ft tall! He made Mike look short!  

The best news as of late is Cameron came home! We were all so excited. My parents and brother Logan actually went to Brazil to pick Cam up and they did a little sight seeing. We of course made a scene at DIA when they arrived. Homecomings are amazing!

Kayla is so happy and loved all the action at the airport!

Kayla's first time with uncle Cameron! He was a little unsure about the who things but no worries, he is attached to her now!

Madi and I made the Brazil shirts that for the most part turned out pretty good! A few people asked if Cam had brought them back from Brazil! Hahaha that made us feel good!

After we picked everyone up, we went to lunch at Chipotle which is what Cam had missed a ton. On the way to lunch Kayla had the largest meltdown of her life! She screamed and cried so hard like something was hurting her for like 15 minutes! Cameron of course was sitting next to her and was amazed and not sure what to do. We all tried everything we could think of. We got stopped at a light for awhile and so my dad took her out and she STILL cried! I could not believe it! Cam totally thought it was him... poor kid was traumatized! Not to mention all those who know Kayla knows she can can but once you pick her up she is just fine. Not this time. It took Mike and I about 10 minutes to calm her down while walking around trying to settle her in the parking lot! Once we changed her diaper and fed her we got her to sleep. The rest of the day she was a little off. I still have no idea what happened because she was just great all morning!

ANYWHO..... after lunch we headed up to Aaron's Camp which is a young men's youth cam that our Stake does every other year. Land, Dillon, my uncle Sterling, and cousin Sebastion were all up there as well as our stake president who was releasing Cam! We were only there for a few hours but it was wonderful! Below is our first complete family picture in the last 4 years!

I am sure that many of not all of you have hear about this next part. The Waldo Canyon fire started Saturday June 23rd. This was taken at my parents house that afternoon about 3pm. At first it started off as a fire in the mountains.

This was taken on the way to dinner Monday night. It was slowly getting bigger and bigger....

Then Tuesday late afternoon hit. It was one of the hottest days we have had this summer, it was windy, and unfortunately made for the perfect fire storm. My dad called us about 4:00 and said that he could see the flames from the office! We ran outside to look and this is what we found. It was one of the craziest things I had ever seen. It was almost like a volcano erupted! We could see the fire racing down the ridge headed towards HUNDREDS of homes and businesses. We could see the fire burst when it hit a large clump of trees. The smoke became bigger and bigger with each passing moment. We continued to watch the news and they were saying it was not as bad as it looked. So we turned off the TV for about 30 minutes and then Madi received a text from someone saying that one of our favorite places, the Flying W Ranch was burning down! We quickly turned on the TV once again and watch the smoke encompassed everyone and everywhere. The news was showing some of the major roads over in the area and one moment we it was light and the next all the cars had their lights on and were racing away from the mountain and EVERYONE was being evacuated from the area.

Over 6,000 people were evacuated that night. I hate to compare anything with this but here is the only way I know to describe how the next few days felt. It reminded me a lot of 9/11. Everyone was glued to the TV. We all just wanted to be with loved ones and friends. We had no idea how many homes and businesses were gone and how many were going to continue to burn. It was a very scary time.

Our hearts go out to many who have lost their home. My good friend and co-worker Jackie lost her home in the fire. It was one that did not completely burn down but there was a fire in the attic and there is severe water and smoke damage throughout her home. It has been deemed unfit to live in. I know their hopes are high and they have a wonderful attitude towards the situation. They, like many of us know that the most important things in life are not things, they are our friendships and our families!

6 months

With the move and all I am behind on posting miss Kayla's 6 month pictures! There are a few extra just for fun! Oh and yes! She is FINALLY sitting up!

Play Ball!

Our agent who helped us buy our house is so kind. He is constantly trying to give us stuff. Well this time we lucked out! He gave us tickets to a Sky Sox game (that included all you can eat dinner) at no charge! We took 2 of my brothers and my little sister as well as our two good friends Rob and Emily. The tickets included a dinner before/during the game which was all you can eat hamburgers, hot dogs, and all the sides and fixings to go with them. It was awesome!

  We had a lot of fun at the game. The one down side was it was pretty chilly out! It was windy the first hour of the game and then it finally calmed down. The crazy thing was the three days before had all been in the 80's and naturally the day we went out is was in the 60's. Oh well, we had a good time anyways. Kayla did pretty well and loved all the action. We will for sure go to another game this season!