What Can Brown Do For You: July 2011

Like I said before for Darien's 12 birthday we tried and make a little bit of a bigger deal for it and so finally after waiting 2 years he was able to go paint balling with his friends and boy did they have fun.
This is their before picture.

I didn't get to go so I don't know all the details of the pictures but this is them all ready for their game.

All suited out.

This course had all kinds of different obstacles through it.

Even Landon when a long and I know that Jamie was thankful because he didn't want to be their target (you know they would try and hit the biggest guy there first. LOL) Landon was a real trooper and I know for sure that he had just as much fun as the boys did.

Having a break.

On the prowl.

Landon showing were he got shot. LOL

Come up from behind.

Heading to the next course. They actually had a group of five men come and join them and the younger kids actually took them down first. LOL

I love the old school bus with all the paint all over it. LOL

The vantage point.

This was a great place to go and play and the boys really had a great time.

I am so glad that Darien was able to go and that some of his friends were home. It can be a real challenge having your birthday in the summer but it all turned out great. Love You Darien.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Such Fun

Now that Darien is getting older he wants to spend more time "hanging" out with his friends and their favorite place to go is the skate park. This is not our favorite place for him to be and we try and limit the amount of time that he spends there. So in a hopes of keeping home a little bit more often I have been keeping an eye out for a 1/4 pipe on our used web sites and boy was I excited when I found one for FREE!!!!

It needed a little bit of TLC but when it is free we are more than happy to put a little bit of work into it. I love getting deals. And if you can believe it but in the last three weeks he has only asked to go to the skate park once. I am doing a happy dance. We know that he needs to spread his wings a little but we will try and keep him home for as long as possible. :)

Friday, July 22, 2011

Taste of Edmonton

I know that I take a lot of pictures but it is because I have such a bad memory. I am so thankful that I live in a time where I can look at these pictures and remember all the things that I have done with my family. I know that this doesn't really show the true picture of our lives (not really showing the daily joys of being a parent ;) if you know what I mean) but I can say that I am thank that I can look at these pictures when we are having a bad day and remember that it isn't "always" a struggle. LOL
As I mentioned before we have decided that we want to enjoy more of the festivals that our fine city offers so we made our way to Taste of Edmonton. We are really glad that we went. They had a great display of cars and so we all stood in front of our dream car. It was really fun.

I love this picture of Keagan my little skater dude. LOL

It is a good thing that Darien plans on being a spinal surgeon or he would never be able to afford this car. LOL

Rylan wants to be a geologist so I not sure if this car will ever become a reality. LOL

We will wait and see what lies ahead of Stefan but lets hope it is good. LOL

The point of this festival is to try all the wonderful food that Edmonton has to offer at the different restaurants so they have booths that offer a small sample of their food. The boys were having a hard time deciding what they were going to try.

Stefan eating his yummy food.

Rylan enjoying his calzone.

My tempura vegetables.

darien and his dry ribs.

Keagan and his eye popping food. LOL

Jamie had the hardest time choosing what he was going to try because he loves food. LOL It was a great day.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Cousins at the Legislature

This was a great way to spend a warm day while the cousins were visiting for a few days. I have never been anywhere else where the Legislature building has wading pools for the kids to play in

All the cousins for a picture. This turned out to be so much fun of course it helped having water guns to play with. LOL

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Happy Birthday Darien

Really where has the time gone!!!!! Darien is 12. I really had no idea that time could go by so quickly. I also never new being a new parent how much joy it would bring into my life having children. I am so thankful for Darien and the wonderful example that he is to his younger brothers. Being the oldest has it's challenges but he is handling them very well and we try to be fair in all that we do. We don't do a lot of birthday parties opting instead to use the money to have family vacations but there are some birthdays that we like to make a big deal of and turning 12 is one of them because at church Darien will become a deacon recieving the priesthood and being able to pass the sacrament and he is very excited about that.

This year was very nice because Jamie's mom, brother and three children were with us. It doesn't happen very often that he gets to celebrate with family.

We had a wonderful visit with everyone

Amy and Landon (our lodgers) were even home for the celebrations.

Happy Birthday to the best Darien that I know. He has so much personality. It is great to see those teenage sarcasms coming through but it really does make me laugh and we have a good time.

For Darien he looks at his birthday being that much closer to being able to drive and living in Alberta that means that in 2 years he will have his learners. Heaven help us. LOL

Only one candle left for the love of his life. LOL Yes that is me. :)

Getting ready to open his presents.

You are never too old for presents.

We thought that this was pretty funny. It was from Uncle David. He bought him hydrogen peroxide and bandages for when he wipes out doing jumps on the 1/4 pipe. LOL Happy Birthday Darien, we Love YOU.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Jurasic Forest

Jamie's brother and his three kids came for a visit for a couple of days, so we thought that it would be great to see some of the places that we haven't been to and this was one of them. Jurasic Forest. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.
Keagan riding his dinosaur.