Lanamia

A few weeks ago, Chad and I were looking over a cd that his uncle had sent him over Christmas. It had the Nelson genealogy and also some stories about the Nelson ancestors. As we were reading through it, we noticed the name Lanamia. What? How had I never seen this name? We continued reading and found out that Mia is short for Marie!!! No joke. It amazed us both!

We read further down and found a history of Lanamia. She was Chad's third great grandma. Originally from Sweden, she was one of the first in her family to hear the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and migrate to Utah. Tooele, Utah to be exact. Which is right where my Dad's family (the Brown's) settled after they heard the gospel. Crazy!

 When I was thinking about names for Lana I knew I wanted an "L" name. Randomly Chad talked about the name Lana. I first associated it with Superman, of course:) He did too but had also known a Lana in Arizona. Marie partially came from an ex of Chad's. Surprise. Surprise. And it just sounded good with Lana.
I always look through the family charts when trying to pick a middle name. Kelsie's middle name, Sophia, is from Chad's side and Lana's middle name, Marie, is similar to the Maria's I found from his family.

Just another testament to me of how very close our ancestors are to us. I know that this is no coincidence that there names are so similar. I feel certain we were lead to this name and that there is a special connection to those who came before us.

Valentine's Craft

I made 4 of these Valentine's boxes for V Day this year. They took a little time but I want to make some more next year too. I really enjoy making simple things like this. You start with flat pieces of paper and end up with a pretty box. Cool.

I found the tutorial on Mel's Kitchen. I love this blog anyways for recipes and such. My favorite is her tut on making Lion House Rolls. The best rolls ever!

DIY Valentine Chocolate Boxes

Lana at 6 1/2 Months

Oh Lana Lou! I seriously love this girl! If I all the babies I have are just like this one I will have many babies! I AM NOT KIDDING! She is such a sweet and relaxed baby. The only times she really cries is when she is hungry or tired. I still think she looks a lot like my side of the fam. Mostly the eyes. Babies are just so great. They are so pure with every emotion and action. I love seeing her trying to understand how things work. She loves all types of food and has yet to refuse anything. I even ground up some salmon and broccoli together the other night and she ate it. The first bite she did do a little cough but kept going. What a trooper! She's been rolling from her belly to her back since about 4 months now. Sits up like a champ. Loves her sister like crazy. She is always trying to see what Kels is doing. Kels is always ready to entertain and be my little helper. Love these girls!

6 month stats:

Weight: 17.11 lbs 90%

Length: 27 in 90%

Head: 17 75%

Tucson Christmas Trip 2012

The only picture that was taken of this trip and of course who has there tongue sticking out? My child. By the way, she has never even done that in pic before. What a goof ball! Actually, that's probably not completely accurate. Kels did get a play camera for Christmas and took a plethora of random, blurry pictures. Many of the dog, Cody.

The twelve hour drive was broken up on the way down with a stop at my friend Trish's house in Vegas. It was seriously so nice of her to let us stay with her and so good to see my old roomy. Definitely need another girls trip with her.

I also met up with another one of my old Dixie roommates in Phoenix the next day. We stopped for lunch and were able to meet her husband.  Taking my family back in time with many younger Beth stories:)

We were able to stay in Tucson for about a week. Mostly, we just enjoyed each others company, worked on a 1000 piece puzzle and ate Cherry Coconut Bars like they were going out of style. We did venture back up to Phoenix for a Christmas Eve party with the fam. That is where this pic is from. It's times like those that I wish we lived a little closer so we could hang out a little more often. We also went to the Arizona-Senora Desert Museum. The best part was the bird show. They had all sorts of birds flying over us. It was pretty neat.  Next time, we are going to Biosphere 2. A bit pricey but I think it looks fascinating!

On the trek back to Utah, we stopped in Hurricane to stay there for the night. Both girls actually did really well the whole car ride. Kels really enjoyed seeing her Arizona family. She loved playing in the warmth outside. Ahh. Makes me want to move.....

Just kidding...found a pic on my phone from our stay at the Days Inn in Hurricane!

 

Montisms: Phrases repeatedly used by Mont Brown

That definition is legit. If you don't know any Montisms let me enlighten you:

Ya heathens!

Judas Priest!

I've come to suck your blood!

Poop or get off the pot.

Its as cold as a tin toilet on a shady side of an iceberg!

A rat bark.

Ankle biters!

Move it or park it!

Are ya diggin' for gold?

Slower than molasses.

Quicker than poop through a goose.

Poop or shoe shine.

Come to Jesus meeting...

Handsome devil.

 Why so many with poop? I can not even tell ya. I also had to edit off a few. Let's just say Dad definitely was a farm boy.

Sometimes I really hate December.  Christmas gives me anxiety. It has every since my Dad died and maybe even a couple years before. I'm still not sure why but every time I go into stores that have all of their Christmas decorations up I freak out inside.

I miss him. Oh I miss him. I think about him on a regular basis when this day get closer. I try not to think about how sad I am to not have him around anymore. Some days I have to stop and let myself cry. It feels cleansing to me to take that moment. I have to remind myself how blessed I was/am to have such a great example in my young life.

It pains my heart to hear of people losing loved ones. I literally feel a weight on my heart when I think about the awful sadness and despair that come with such a loss. But I am lifted up in the knowledge that family is forever. I feel like I can't really realize how precious those moments of joy are without feeling the pain. One day, I will look back on this mortal experience and really understand how fleeting those moments are.   

The lesson I taught in Young Women's this week was about using time wisely. I have been reminded all week about how important each moment is in our lives. Every second counts because I am accountable to my Heavenly Father for those seconds. It's made me think about the mother I want to be remembered as by my children. What moments do I want them to remember? I know with my Dad I remember both the good and the bad. He was not perfect but that is not what makes a good Dad anyway. He loved me and I knew it. He cared about what I did with my life and I knew it. He would do anything to make sure I was on the right path and I. Knew. It. Hopefully one day, far, far, far away from this one, my daughters and maybe sons (who knows, right?) will look back and know the same. 

Kelsie's Pink 3rd Birthday!

When I asked Kelsie what kind of cake she wanted this year she said "Pink with sprinkles." Alright. I can do that.  I bought a Groupon for Glaus Bakery earlier in the year so I thought that would be perfect. If you haven't heard, we are in search of the best cake bakers in Northern Utah. You name the bakery I bet we have gotten a cake or some kind of baked good there. Did Glaus win? Ehh...not bad.

I continued the pink theme for the whole party. I also emailed everyone to tell them to wear pink but if they were boys they had the option of red. I didn't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable:).

I also made strawberry milk (Kelsie still asks for it daily) and bought 7up Pomegranate.

We recently had had pics taken of the fam so I emailed our photographer to see if she could send me one of Kels. My plan was to blow it up and just stick it on the wall. I had a 'light bulb' moment and thought why not do Pin the Crown on Kelsie? Hilarious. I cut out all the paper stuff with my Cricut which possibly hasn't seen the light of day for over a year now. Maybe longer. Oops.

Rick. Always goes above and beyond that guy! He got this whole outfit at the DI and dyed it pink.

She received a ton of gifts from Rick. He is going to spoil his grandkids like crazy one day.

Can't you tell my brother has all girls at home? Love it!

Halloween Fun!

We had our annual trip to Gardner Village to go on the Witch Scavenger Hunt. I love what they do there will all the funny witches.

 

These are pics from our ward Halloween party. It was packed!

The activity day's girls and their leaders did the thriller dance. The leader in the front is a seriously amazing dancer and it was awesome to watch her dance.

 

The Lunt's came down for Halloween and we all went to Alpine to Kelli's husband's sister's house. Ha. We had dinner and went trick or treating with everyone. We had to coach Kelsie on the fine art. Don't look at your candy. Just run to the next house. She had to try to keep up with her speedy and experienced cousins.