'Cus you gotta have faith!

Well March madness is over and we are couldn't be happier of the result! Michael and I both did well on our brackets. I got seventh place in my work bracket and second in Michael's work bracket, and Michael got first place in his work bracket (and we both won prizes)!!!! That was all just a bonus because the best part of it all is DUKE WON THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! All they needed was a little bit of faith in themselves (and we had some faith in them!). It was a night of celebration! We had Cameron, Michelle, and Colton over for dinner and celebrated Cam's birthday on top of the great game!

AND..... Here is our other news.....

We are moving yet AGAIN! This time it is going to be to a different county AND state! We are moving to Colorado Springs at the end of the month! We are actually moving out on Saturday the 24th and will be staying with my nanna and pappa for that last week. Michael graduates on the 30th and then we will move onto newer and better things! It has been a tough decision but we are excited for this new adventure in our lives. We will really miss our ward and all of our friends! We are so thankful for all those friendships... and not to worry, we will be back to visit! I think this quote sums it up. "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." :)

I think spring is on its way!

I finally have taken some pictures! WOOHOO!

Al and Lexi invited us to The Festival of Colors. It is one of the ways that the Hindus welcome in spring. So we went to the Hindu temple down in Spanish Fork, bought some chalk, and then threw it at eachother! There were over 3,000 people there and we were ALL covered in chalk! Then there was a massave throw when everyone tossed their chalk in the air and it was like we were in a dust storm. We couldn't see the sky or the sun! It was crazy! Anywho we went for the fun of it all, not all the ritual stuff lol and we ended up having a blast! I felt like a kid again :) This is what we looked like afterwards...

These are all the awesome girls that I have been playing basketball with! We ended up being the Reginal Champions! The season was awesome and I have made some great new friends!

Just because I like my man in uniform!!

Michael and I went to the planetarium in down town Salt Lake and it was pretty fun! Here is us visiting other worlds :)

I am WAY behind on posting this picture, but these are some of my friends from work. We were were at a conference in SLC a few weeks ago and had a blast!

*Lots of Love*

Lame...

So I will admit. I have not posted in awhile because I don't know what to say because there is not much that is going on right now! So here is my lame post with a few little things that have been somewhat exciting to us lately!

- CONGRATS to Seth and Cindy... Seth purposed to her this week and we are so excited to have her join the "family"!

- My craft room is all set up! WOOHOO! I finally got it all organized and I am loving it! It makes me just want to stay home from work every day and craft! Mike will even sit with me while I craft and he playes with his Legos so it works!

- Work is.... work :)

- Mikes basketball season ended bitter sweet. They were the stake champions which is exciting but their first regional game was not their best. They ended up going into double overtime and they lost. It was sad. My team did get into regionals and our first game is Saturday... so wish us luck!

- Congrats to Jessie and JB.... they had their little boy and he is a doll!

- One of my friends at work gave me the most amazing recipe this week (it's easy and fast)! YOU ALL HAVE TO TRY IT! Here it is...

Chicken Davine
2-3 Chicken breasts
Broccoli (use however much you would like. If you use fresh, then steam it first so it is cooked better)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup of Mayo
2 tsp lemon juice (I used lime juice and it worked too!)
Cheese

Boil the chicken till cooked and then cube. Mix the cream of chicken soup, mayo, lemon juice, and chicken. Put the broccoli in a casserole dish along the bottom. Then pour the mixture over the broccoli. Sprinkle some cheese over the top. Heat the oven to 350 and let it cook for 30 minutes. SO EASY AND SO FAST AND IT HAS AMAZING TASTE! Enjoy!

So that's it today for my lame post :) Thanks reading and I'll post again soon!

The year gets better and better!

Oh my goodness this year keep flying by faster and faster! Well the last month has been a ton of fun! Here are a few highlights...

- Mike is playing ward ball... for TWO wards! We are going to a young family student ward so he is playing with them AND for the family ward we would have been in! He loves playing and I love to watch him tear up the court!

- I am playing basketball too! Yes... even though I have not played in years I am having a ton of fun! It has been a great opportunity to make some new friends too! We are a pretty good little team but we mostly love the workout!

- The down side of playing ball is that there is a chance that you can get hurt... and naturally I can manage that! About 2 1/2 weeks ago I took a charge during our game and fell wrong and my head whip lashed back and I hit the floor HARD! We checked for a concussion and Mike watched me closely all that day but nothing was really wrong besides me having a horrid headache! Well last week I decided to go to the doctor to make sure everything was okay. I STILL had the headache and I had been recently feeling nauseous. So I went to the doctor and he decided to order a CAT scan of my head! Well I was fine with it until the technician freaked me out! He stuck me in a little room all by myself and told me to stay there until he called my doctor! I SAT THERE FOR 40 MINUTES FREAKING OUT! Luckily everything was fine, it was just procedure (which would have been nice to know)! So I am still waiting to hear back from my doctor to see if anything small was found, I am just thankful there is not a bleed somewhere in my head!

- Friends - We are finally meeting some couples in our ward and are making some awesome new friendships! WOOHOO! Friends can always make my day - old and new :)

- Supper Bowl Party- Lets get honest.... the best part of the game is having a reason to invite lots of friends and family over and have a good time! That is just what we did, invited some people over, had lots of food and lots of fun! :) Thanks to all those who celebrated with us!

Sorry, no picts this time but I will try and take some soon! :)

Our January!

Well 2010 is going well so far! Michael and I celebrated our second anniversary on the 12th! We can not believe that 2 years has passed! They have been awesome! We didn't do much this year to celebrate but relax, go to dinner and a movie.

We do want to congratulate Alan and Lexi for having their baby girl! Lindy Faith was born Monday January 18th and mom and baby are now doing well! Lindy was in the NICU for a few days but they are home now! She is so so so cute! We are very excited for them! :)

Other than me going craft crazy and Michael and I enjoying some of our favorite TV shows, not too much has happened.... sometimes having not much to report is a good thing :)

The End of 2009

Hohoho.... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We love the holiday season and kept very busy! There were Christmas parties, gift shopping, carrying out traditions and lots of love! We were able to spend Christmas with my family here in Utah at my Nanas house. There were about 35 of us most of the time and the number even got up to about 50 at one point! Every day was planned for about 5 days straight and it was VERY crazy yet VERY fun! Some of the activities were ice skating in downtown SLC, going to see the lights at temple square, gingerbread house making, scavenger hunts, lots of food, lots of games put together by Nanna, a visit to bountiful to visit my grandpa, again MANY games, and SOOOOOO much more! We were also able to talk to Logan on Christmas day and he is doing AWESOME! He says he is "livin' the dream'! We can hardly believe that he has been in the mission field for a year now! Here is a fun picture of him of when the leaves were changing back in the fall.

Then we traveled up to Logan and spent time with Michael's side of the family for the new years. This was a nice change where things were much more low key. we played lots of games, slept lots, ate lots, played lots of wii, went sledding, and had lots of family together time. It is so fun to spend some time with our nieces and nephew! They are so stinkin cute! All together the holidays were wonderful! Here are a few pictures!

Oh and yes... I chopped my hair! I cut about 12 inches about a month ago and I am loving it! I tried to donate it to locks of love but they would not take it because I had bleached highlights.... lame. Oh well... it has been very fun!

I was not able to send a Christmas card to everyone so here is the picture we sent out and the little saying that went with it....

During our second year of marriage our great life gave to us….
12 months of lovin’
11 doctor’s visits
10 temples visited
9 weeks of Mike’s new job
8 days at Disney World
7 Holidays spent with family
6 days of camping
5 weeks of military
4 BYU football games
3 nieces and a nephew
2 years of marriage
And our first time moving as a couple!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas!
With Lots of Love,
The Browns

So I will close with this. How thankful we were for such a wonderful year and for all that we were blessed with. We have truly felt the Love of Christ this year and could not have done it without the Gospel in our lives! Our family and friends are so precious to us and we are who we are today because of them. Our love for each other grows stronger each and every day and with that love, anything is possible!

* HAPPY 2010! *

The Post

I have had a hard time gearing up to write this post but I think I am now ready. Unfortunately, I miscarried on the 3rd. We went to the doctors for our 12 week visit, our first ultrasound, and to hear the baby's heartbeat. When the ultrasound was preformed my uterus was empty. No baby. My doctor was slightly concerned and I had told him that I had not bled or cramped at all. So he sent us over to the hospital to get another ultrasound done and he wanted a radiologist look at it. Once back to my doctors, we found out that the radiologist had found the gestational sac. I asked the doctor how old the baby had gotten. He thought I may have "miscarried" back at 5 or 6 weeks! I had my 8 week appointment where we had the full OB blood panel and all looked normal. We asked the doctor why all the blood work would come back normal if I had miscarried. He told us that sometimes it takes awhile for the body to go back to normal, and because of the progesterone supplements I have been taking; my body continued thinking and acting like it was pregnant. Therefore it never got rid of the gestational sac.

It was a complete an utter shock. We were not prepared for that news. We knew that I may have a hard time keeping the baby when I first got pregnant so for the first few weeks they did lots of blood work to make sure all my hormone levels were where they needed to be. Once we got all positive results we thought that we may be ok and that I wouldn't miscarry. That was the hardest part; we were not ready to see nothing. Because we have had some difficulty getting pregnant and we were not quite sure how we got pregnant in the first place, we anxiously asked the doctor what the next step was going to be so I could become pregnant again. He told us that we needed to get through the miscarriage first and that we would make a game plan in 2 weeks (which is this coming Wednesday). Since I had not miscarried yet, the doctor gave me some medication to help me get rid of everything. Let’s just say that I will ask for prescription medication next time. It was one of the most painful experiences I have ever had. I was told that miscarrying can be a lot like being in labor and so I am grateful for the option to have an epidural when I am in labor one day.

There had been a lot of good come from this and there is a lot to be thankful for. We are thankful to know that I am able to get pregnant and that has been huge for us considering we didn’t know how we got pregnant in the first place! The Lord has been by our side through this whole thing and that is what gets us through each day. We are so grateful for family and friends who love and support us. All your prayers have been greatly appreciated and felt. We know that our time will come to begin our family and we just need to be patient. Needless to say it doesn't stop hurting instantly. It has been a very hard 2 weeks emotionally. Michael said something to me the other day that really hit me. He had said that the saying "you don't know what you have till you lose it" truly means something now. We didn't realize how attached we were already to this little one and how excited we were till it wasn't there. We are ready to hop back on the band wagon and to start trying again once we get the okay from the doctor.

Wow, I said a lot more than I expected, sorry! Last, I have to say that I could not have done it without Michael by my side. He is my angel and my strength. I thank my Father above each and every day for sending Michael to me. He is my best friend and he stands beside me through everything, I am so lucky to have a husband who loves me the way he does. It may be a long and hard road but we are willing to take it if the destination is parenthood, it will be well worth the trip!

We love you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy the holidays!