Happy Birthday B!!!!

Well, it's official. . . I am the mother of a 1 YEAR OLD! So hard to believe. But, he's still my baby. I love this kiddo. When we heard him waking up, we got the video camera and sang happy birthday as we walked in to his room. He got very happy and jazzy while we sang and then he whined for more. We took his jammies off to get him ready for his special birthday breakfast, which he thoroughly enjoyed and ate all up so he could have some seconds. Of course, he got the traditional birthday breakfast toppings on his blueberry pancake. . . cherry pie filling and ice cream. Yum yum. Then he opened his gifts and said goodbye to Daddy who had to go work and then take a final. But, the fun's not over! No, no. Tonight we're inviting a bunch of friends over for cake and ice cream and to sing to our little man. So, if you didn't get the message and you're reading this, come over at 6!


and TOMORROW WE GO TO UTAH!!! Woot Woot!

Car Update

Well, we finally heard the news today. The car was indeed totaled.  The good news is that it was valued at a higher price than we expected, especially since this is the same car that was nearly totaled about 6 years ago in a parking lot. This car must have just been an extra attractive target when stopped. Thank goodness I wasn't even in the car last time though.

I have mixed feelings about the news. . . I'm truly going to miss that vibe. She's been mine since I was 16 and I really really loved her! But, I also think it's time to get a car that can be our car. Preston always referred to the vibe as "YOUR car."  So now we can start fresh with OUR first car. I hope I can love it as much as I loved the vibe and that it will be able to fit my harp so nicely too :)

But, for now, we'll just enjoy our rental for 2 more days before we leave for Utah!! Woohoo!!

Also, I must mention the special occasion tomorrow. . . BRAYDEN'S BIRTHDAY!!! I still can't believe it, but I'm so excited. I have to make his birthdays just as special as I always thought  mine were. We have our special birthday breakfast ingredients, some good gifts and we'll have some cake, ice cream and good company. Should be fun!

Car Wreck

Yesterday Preston basically finished his semester other than his Stats final next week! All the hard stuff is done though yay! So, he text me and said I could come pick him up early, which was very exciting. I had grand plans of finishing all our Christmas lights outside and making dinner together then watching the new episode of Psych together. But, life happened. I ran into major traffic from a car wreck that must've barely happened so it took about 45 minutes to get to school instead of the normal 20. And the wreck was right on the corner of campus! So, on our way home, we went a different way because the road we usually take was closed by campus. There we were driving in 5 o'clock traffic on a main road. We were just talking away about who knows what at a red light about a mile away from home when BOOM! we were rear-ended while we were stopped at a red light. The lady was going pretty fast (it's a 45 mph zone) and must not have been paying attention because she hit us hard enough to make us hit the car in front of us and bounce back into her. We had the whole family in the car - Me, Preston, Brayden AND Sadie. Totally lame. Brayden started screaming, Sadie must have leaked because the car WREAKS and Preston and I were trying to figure out what just happened. It was one of those crazy, time stands still moments. I know it all happened it the matter of a couple seconds if that, but it seems like I had time to think of all sorts of things and figure out why I wasn't talking anymore and why I was getting thrown around and to brace myself for hitting the car infront of us. I was sure the car would look awful because it felt like a really hard hit.

When I first got out the car didn't look bad at all. The gas door was opened and it looked like the bumper was popped out of place, but nothing major. But I was wrong. On the outside it's not much, but here's all the damages that we've discovered so far:

• The bumper rubs against the tire
• the passenger side back door won't open because the car is too smushed together.
• The Radiator was knocked out of place and vibrates on the engine, which the cop (so super nice, by the way!) informed us would be enough reason not to drive our car even to the shop. 
• The other back door won't shut unless you really slam it.
• The "door ajar" light is always on
• The automatic lock makes noise like it's trying to work, but the doors won't really lock (better than not unlocking, right?)
• Brayden's car seat (which we now need to replace) was totally jammed up into the front seat because the car is literally squished together even though you can't tell from pictures.
• The little storage compartment popped out of it's socket

Doesn't look bad, right?

bumper rubbing tire

the engine. . . I honestly don't know where the radiator is. . . :D

The door is jammed so it won't open

Brayden's car seat pushed up against the front seat. I had to move the seat all the way forward to get the car seat out.

Our lovely storage bin came out yet again. . . :(

Yes, everything is "closed tightly"

the biggest denting that happened. Not too much as far as that goes, but the other things are evidence of the impact.

So, it really doesn't look like much, but the cop said that he wouldn't be surprised if they call it totaled. 

 Good news? Other than being shaken up both literally and figuratively, we all seem to be fine. It's hard to know with Brayden and Sadie because they can't talk to us. But, Brayden didn't have a concussion and has been up to his normal mischief :)

I should also mention how grateful we were that everyone involved was very pleasant to work with. The lady took full responsibility and felt So awful. You could just see her worry all over her. And she apologized over and over and assured us her insurance would take care of everything. The other guy that we hit was very down to earth and made sure we all shared info and was also nice. The cop was probably the most friendly cop I've ever met and was equally nice to everyone involved, including the lady who caused it. He followed us home to make sure our car made it and told us several of his cops live in our neighborhood. We know of at least 4, but he said there were 6-8 in our tiny neighborhood!! He assured us that there's "not a safer place to live in Leon county." That always makes you feel good. Especially when you have a car that won't lock :) Anyway, now I'm kinda babbling, but it's making me feel better, so I hope it's not too boring. 

The main update is that WE are fine. Our car not so fine, but we haven't gotten it in to get an estimate yet. Still waiting on insurance to call us back. . . 

Thanks for your love and prayers! I'm sure they helped protect us yesterday! It was one hard hit!

Thanksgiving

Being so far away from family, we planned on having our own Thanksgiving dinner maybe with some friends. But, then we found out that Preston's parents were planning on driving to Missouri to spend Thanksgiving with Dad's parents. If they can drive from Utah, we figured we could drive from Florida and spend the holiday with family. So, Wednesday morning we set out on our journey. It took us about 13.5 hours to get there and we were all glad to get out of the car. Unfortunately we were greeted by a very sick Grandma Brown. Although we didn't realize how sick until Thanksgiving morning when she collapsed a couple of times. Preston and Dad took her into the hospital where she stayed the whole weekend. We put off our big dinner until Saturday in hopes that Grandma could be there, but unfortunately they wanted to keep her a little longer. So, most of the break we spent playing games with Mom and helping out Grandpa (usually Grandma takes care of him) while Dad spent a lot of time at the hospital with Grandma. It wasn't exactly how we had pictured the weekend going, but we still enjoyed our time there and were probably even more grateful that we went.

What a blessing that we were all there when Grandma needed us. What a blessing that Preston and I went so that Mom wasn't left practically alone just making sure Granpa didn't need anything. What a blessing that we could be reminded of some more things we have to be grateful for. . . Grandma's life, our health, etc. Although it wasn't what most would consider a great Thanksgiving, I think it was just how it was meant to be and wouldn't have it any other way. Plus, I had a great time. Other than having to keep an extra close eye on Brayden in a not baby-proofed home, it was very much a vacation. I feel the most sorry for Grandma who was so excited to have family for Thanksgiving and instead spent it recovering in the hospital. The good news is that she was doing MUCH better when we left and is probably home now, although we haven't heard for sure. She seemed so happy and optimistic when we visited her. That's a true example.

We did manage to have our Thanksgiving on Saturday after the BYU vs. Utah football game and it was SO yummy! Here's a few pics from our weekend adventure.

4 generations of Browns

Thanksgiving Day

Cute bib from Grammy & Grandpa Stevens

We looked over once to find this scene. . . he climbed up there himself!

Brayden likes to watch football

A universal walker :)

BYU vs. Utah game

Me and Sadie during the game

Thanksgiving Dinner! Oh, and uncle Stan drove into town from Michigan so he could take care of Mom and Dad until everything got figured out. So, he got there just in time for our dinner :)

The family. . . dogs and all.

Thanksgiving Tree

This was our Family Home Evening last night. I actually stole the idea from another blog (thanks Jenny!), but I thought it looked so cute, so I did it too. I probably should've cute some more leaves, but I was happy with the turnout.

Is it too late for Halloween pictures?

Yep, that's right. We're really backtracking here. And we have a lot of ground to cover. We have way back to Halloween and on up from there. Including, a trip to the park, visiting the museum, our temple trip, and Brayden's first birthday present!

We've had a lot of fun that I haven't blogged about. First off, Halloween was fun. Brayden and I went trunk or treating at our ward party Friday night while Preston was in Charleston SC for a conference. He got back at about 3 am on Halloween and after church we just spent the day together playing games and handing out candy. It was fun! I posted pictures earlier about our costumes (The lion, witch and wardrobe). Preston presented some research at the conference. It was his first one and he didn't know what to expect, so he definitely didn't expect to win (he didn't even know there were winners), but when they announced the top poster (mix of presentation, poster and content I think) he was tied for his section! YAY! So, he brought home a little spending cash for himself :D That's my honey!

Then there's some pictures of Brayden just being cute. He's started "talking on the phone" when he gets it and he holds it almost behind his head and listens very intently. In this picture he has two phones and he couldn't decide which one he wanted to talk on, so he just switched between the two. So cute. He also likes to sit with his feet either crossed or propped up on a tray or something. He's a lounger, what can I say? So, I had to get a picture of those cute crossed feet with his big toe sticking up. Classic Brayden, ya know?

Then we have the temple trip. We were FINALLY able to make it to the temple! The Orlando temple is really beautiful!! We loved it! We wish it were closer, but it's worth the 4 hour drive and hotel cost. We were able to go with some friends who watched Brayden for us and then we watched their 3 boys for them. Haha. . . we may or may not have lent them our car with an empty tank. . . Pretty sure they ran out of gas in our car that we didn't fill up because we wanted to hurry and let them make it to the temple. Next time we're getting gas. How embarrassing! Luckily, they just laughed about it and we were able to take care of it with minimal setbacks. Then we all went to the BIGGEST McDonalds that I have ever seen for lunch before we hit the road back home.

Haha, so I wasn't going to mention, but I think it's really funny. I forgot to pack my skirt because I had Brayden grabbing my legs and wanting attention while I packed. Luckily, I took a swimsuit and cover up for the hotel pool. So. . . the cover up became my skirt for our temple outing. Haha. I was so grateful I had something!

Last Sunday Brayden got to open his first birthday gift from his Grandy. She wanted him to have it now and she was leaving for Malaysia the next day, so we did a little google chat so she could see him open it. It was pretty fun. The pictures say it all.

look at that grin!

We also discovered that Brayden likes the massage chair. He was laughing his head off!! SO CUTE!!!

Brayden and I visited the Florida History Museum, which was actually a lot of fun. We kinda ended up there because we went to the wrong library and decided to take a look while we were there. They had a big cannon replica with a small 6lb cannon ball that you could lift a little to see how heavy it was and Brayden thought it was so fun to watch it go up and down. Yeah, we stayed at the cannon for like 5 minutes :) And he would laugh EVERY time I lifted it up or put it down. Anyway, they also had "grandma's attic" which was full of the fun stuff that they would've had for kids back in the day and Brayden found himself some oldie trucks to drive around. His favorite. Then he got to captain a big ship and spin the steering wheel. . . haha, is that what it's called on a boat? I'm having a serious mind blanking. It was pretty good times and I have no pictures. I actually took one on my phone and uploaded it on facebook if you really want to check it out :)


 Finally, we went to the park. It was a lot of fun and we stayed for quite a while. We went on a short walk with Sadie and then Brayden and I played while Sadie waited in the car. The only pictures I got were at the very end when Brayden's hand got stepped on accidentally by a little girl in the ward so he has red teary eyes in all the pictures but the first one. Still cute though.

A perfect day for . . .

Sidewalk Chalk!! 

You can't read this one very well, but it says we <3 our Daddy.

Chalk boodie

Isn't he just the cutest?!

I also made Sadie a new doggie bed today. I was pretty proud since I'm really no seamstress. It turned out pretty good! Although, I folded one edge of the patterned fabric over so that it could fit around the bed and hold it closed, but it wasn't folded over quite enough :) It works though. You can't really tell. I put her old doggie bed (which was chewed up a bit) inside to hold in all the stuffing.