I Know.

I know!  Forgive me friends for I have sinned ... it has been nearly three months since my last blog post.  That's what happens when you have to do a Youth Conference and Girls' Camp within three weeks of each other. 

Mother's Day

We got all of the grandkids together for an epic Mother's Day photo for my mom.  My favorite part of this picture is Chris' reflection on Miles' #8.  Now you know what it takes to get seven kids to smile and two babies to cry.

Chris made videos from each of our kids talking about me that were hilarious and awesome and made me cry.  They're too long for me to upload all of them for free, but please enjoy the final installation of the series.



Spring Soccer and Soccer Camp
All four kids are now playing city league soccer.  Two of our kids are aggressive and awesome, and two are, shall we say, a little more space cadet-y.  But we enjoy watching them all.  I took a few action shots this season, but this picture is just too creepy in a funny way not to share.  The boys always make me think of "The Shining" when they stand side-by-side like that.

Haley and Carter attended Soccer Camp at BYU last month: an entire week learning from BYU's players and coaches.  They had a blast and  I can't wait to see their new skills on the field this fall.

  

Stewart Falls

Chris' parents came up in June for Trevor's graduation and the boys hiked Stewart Falls one day with most of the family.  Haley and I didn't go because she was was busy with a bunch of different things that morning.  The boys had fun and the outing produced one of my favorite pictures of all time. I'm not sure where my boys learned how to pose for pictures.  What can I say.  They're special.

Strawberry Days

Man we Brownes are starting to take up a lot of space on the parade route.

Adam and Drew insisted on wearing their fanny packs from Lindsay's 80s-themed birthday party so they could hoard candy in them.

All I wanted was to be as cool as Ellie.

MoA Family Arts Festival

The best part of having the director of BYU's Museum of Art as your bishop is that you get the inside scoop on fun stuff going on there.  We spent a lovely afternoon learning about middle eastern culture (including henna tattoos), and the kids especially enjoyed the Lego-esque art in the sculpture garden.

 

Fourth of July

Kallie, Ryan, Lindsay and I ran in the Freedom Festival 10K.  It was fun.  Except that I got all excited in the beginning and ran too fast, so then I wimped out and walked for a couple of minutes after an uphill section at the end.  Boo. 

And then we had a barbeque and watched the fireworks with a photo bomb ninja named Avery and the rest of the family. 

My husband is special too.  Turn up your volume for proof that the boys get it from him and not me:


Fire and Rain

Oh, and in the midst of all this we didn't have rain for nearly seven weeks and our whole dang state nearly burned down, which forced us to evacuate from the aforementioned Girls' Camp.  Another story for another day.  But the cool part of all of that was when the entire church fasted for rain and then it rained all day on Thursday.  The whole experience helped my kids gain a testimony of fasting, which was great.  Haley's ready to try it for herself next month.

Wow. 
That took forever. Your turn Lindsay.