Five Brown Kids

We are home safe from a really fun trip. I'm so glad we got to go. First things first,  the night before I was out with the girls, I had slippery shoes on, it was raining lightly.  I slipped down some steps and felt that awful crunch -  something got hurt.  Fortunately my ankle was not broken - just a sprain.  I was able to hobble around pretty well the whole week but it didn't feel good.... We left for Miami early Saturday morning and made it by evening time.  Stayed overnight in a hotel and then got on the cruise Sunday at lunch.  Everyone was pretty excited and shocked by how big the boat was! We sailed on  Carnival Horizon.   Watch here... We traveled with our friends the Fosters and Carleen's sister Sam and her family.  A big crowd of 15! I was surprised by how packed the ship was - so many people.  More than I anticipated and I didn't love that.  But I was pleasantly surprised by how fancy dinner was each night. ...

A few years ago just before Christmas Scotia asked Tyrone if Santa was real and he told her the truth. She'd been working up to it - wondering why I had a closet full of presents under a blanket, why the wrapping paper all matched, how Santa could get in the house without a proper fireplace, how could Santa make it around the world in one night, how could he get in houses without a key, why some kids got so much or so little or nothing... finally the evidence was just overwhelming and she asked Tyrone. Post Santa Christmases are just as good as Santa Christmases.  She loves helping me buy presents and she is chief wrapper now.

Thanks for meeting with me today. I appreciate your time. Your note was a helpful and poignant reminder that we have so much to improve on. I know that not every woman feels marginalized or used or left behind or that her talents are wasted but we note that many do and I hope you will help us get better. I have a wife and daughters myself.  I want their talents and intelligence and skills to be valued. Please recognize that we can’t change rules - women won’t get the priesthood until the prophet says so - but there are many things we can do in our stake to make sure women are treated equitably.  I hope you can meet with us regularly - we get caught up in our priesthood vortex and forget to look outward sometimes.  I looked through your blog - and wanted to personally thank you for your work in our stake. Thanks for being a YW’s counselor when your husband was in a grueling grad school program and you were essentially a single parent. Thank you for accepting the call to se...

It’s 2019 - we are so far past worrying about bare shoulders and coffee and which degree of the celestial kingdom you are willing to throw enough people under the bus to achieve. Let’s do real stuff that is life-changing. I heard a talk on fast offerings once that said we should give till it hurts.  The church should fund refugee programs and food programs and education programs and vaccine programs and clean water programs until they’ve spent so much money they have to build temples out of cinder block.  Let’s make homeless shelters in our gyms and food pantries in our kitchens.  Let’s teach English as a second language all week long in the high council conference room.  Let’s set up free trauma counseling in the classrooms.  Let’s give away free furniture for refugees on the stage.  Let’s run financial counseling out of the bishop's office.  Have missionaries cook food and clean at orphanages around the world so the w...

Taye had prepared so hard for this YMCA Short Course Nationals and it showed.  He had a killer week and dropped significant time in every event. (Finally made it into the 20's for the 50 free. He's been a tenth of a second off for two years now)  Coach Jamie is in charge now and it shows - she coaches Taye to be fast!

We had a really sad experience a few weeks ago.  Tyrone took Scotia, Blythe and Jaxon shopping at Dicks Sporting Goods one Saturday morning.  Blythe needed soccer stuff, Scotia wanted sneakers and Jaxon needed to try on some sneakers for sizing. They found everything they needed and got into line.  Jaxon wanted candy and Tyrone told him he had to pay for it himself so Jaxon grabbed the keys and walked out to the car to get his wallet while Tyrone stood in line to pay for almost $300 worth of stuff. When Jaxon stepped into the foyer area between the exterior and interior doors the loss prevention officer grabbed him and questioned him about stealing a headband.  Jaxon said he had not, and the officer threatened, "just tell the truth, just be honest and I won't have to call the cops".  Jaxon convinced him he had not taken anything, remained calm, offered to go watch the video if that helped.  He didn't say anything to Tyrone until they were all in the car...

One of the parents organized an amazing photo shoot for all the swim kids going to YMCA Nationals.   Love these fabulous pictures of my Taye-berry.