Trains, Planes and Automobiles...

...Except without the trains. We didn't ride in a train, but we probably saw one. It should be called 'pink eye, planes and automobiles'...who goes on vacation and gets conjunctivitis?

Oh wait, that would be me. I have never in my whole life had ichy, burning crazy red sclerae, until the one time we just happen to be out of state...awesome!
I'm jumping ahead of myself. I guess I should mention that the Brown family went on vacation. A real-life vacation. The 'fly on a plane to somewhere' kind.

Yes, we went somewhere out of state and slept in a hotel, not a tent(although backpacking in the high Uintahs is one version of my perfect vacation).
We flew to California...I really don't like to say why we went to California because up until this point, you were thinking, "Oh Cali, that sounds nice." Then you hear what we did while visiting Cali and you think to yourself, "Oh boy, they really are dorks."
It's no secret that I like horses.

Horses are pretty, they run fast, they are fun to ride...sounds normal so far right? There is the 'I like horses,' kind of people. And then there's me. I thought I was a horse for the first 6 or 7...okay, okay, maybe it was 8 or 9 years of my life. I read every horse book, watched every horse show. etc. etc.
I'm just going to say why we went to California, so you can just start judging...We went to Californa to go to 'The Horse and Soul Tour'. It's kind of like a horse training seminar put on by Parelli Natural Horsemanship. That's not the only reason we went. We wanted to go to all the hot architecture spots also(see Chris is a dork too, although I'm pretty sure he wasn't a skyscraper the first 7 years of his life). And of course, the beach for the babyface. Aren't you dying to know all the amazing details of 'The Brown Family, Horse, Architecture, and Beach Retreat?'

Total Eclipse of the Heart

I love space. I'm pretty sure in my previous life I was an astronomer. Unfortunately in this life I have retained not a single iota of the math needed for this profession. But my love for space and its mysteries and beauty, are fully intact.
Tonight in honor of the eclipse and for everyone's viewing pleasure, I busted out my third grade skillz and built a very sophisticated eclipse viewing box.

I got a box and cut a square out of it(which was hard to do because silly Nora wouldn't stop climbing in and out of it) and covered the square with aluminum foil. Then I poked a pin hole into the aluminum foil. I taped white paper to the inside of the box opposite the aluminum foil square...and there you have it a very sophisticated eclipse viewing box.
Unfortunately I burned the crap out of my retinas looking at the eclipse because I thought that I was supposed to look through the pinhole but really I was supposed to look at the white paper and see the shadow of the eclipse. Details, details.
Luckily our neighbor Richard had a welding mask something or other. It was just perfect because you could look right at the eclipse. It was awesome!
Before the mask thingy

After the mask thingy

We had some of the fam. come and we enjoyed an impromptu eclipse watching party...which of course included some hot dog roasting over our fire pit!

Because I wanted to prove that I was smarter then a 3rd grader, I refused to give up on my sophisticated viewing box and finally we figured it out. It only took 4 hours and a total eclipse of the heart...I mean sun

On a random note, look how tan my nieces are compared to Elanora, unfortunately she has my skin and will need 100SPF sunblock and still burn.

No one got sick of me singing this song

What is a Party Without Music?

Did I have a playlist for Elanora's Birthday you ask?... Did I have a playlist? Ha. You better believe it!
Now remember this is what the craziness looked like

if it drives you bonkers that there is no popcorn on the far right of the picture to balance out the popcorn on the far left(really it ruins the picture for me), don't worry, do you think I would have made that horrible of mistake for my guests to have to endure? I was popping another bag when I took the picture and let me assure you that by the time the guest got there, there was proper order and placement on that colorful table.


Because music makes everything more magical, we had a magically themed playlist


'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
'Sugar Sugar' by The Archies
'Rainbow Connection' by The Muppets
'Rainbow Connection' by Willie Nelson
'Candy Man' by Sammy Davis jr
'lollipop' by The Chordettes
'On the Good Ship Lollipop' by Disney Resort
'The lolipop Kids' by The Munchkins
'Reading Rainbow' by Ion Storm
'I've Got a Golden Ticket' from Willie Wonka
'Over the Rainbow' from The Wizard of Oz
'Pure Imagination' by Gene Wilder

We also had 'Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' movie playing...on silent of course.

We had a pinata...it was freezing outside, so we finished it off pretty fast

Nora loved everything she got. She would open one and walk around with it, loving it. We would have to redirect her to the next present and then she would love that one and carry it around. She is the sweetest, silliest girl!

Birthday!!!

Those of you that have stopped by and read my life story unfolding upon the pages of this blog, may have been clued into the fact that I might have a touch of the crazies. I might have the tendency to get a little obsessive excited about things. Just ask Chris how much he loves when I find a fabulous new song to listen to and how many times we have to listen to it(it may or may not be just shy of a million).
Elanora's very 1st birthday may just attest to the madness that is floating around in my brain. But in my defense, I was on spring break and I had some extra time. Also I'm pretty sure the amount of decorations used for the party has a direct correlation to how much I love Elanora.
My Grandma Page made beautiful cakes for all her Grand kids birthdays. For my 1st birthday, the cake topper was a carousel, which my mom happened to still have. I loved the idea of using it for Nora's cake so it became the inspiration for her whole party. I wanted to used the beautifully bright colors in the carousel in all the decorations.


This concludes the boring reading part of the blog, now that that is out of the way we can proceed to the picture overload portion of this blog. *NOTE- NOT ONE OF THE DECORATIONS IDEAS I USED CAME FROM PINTERST, I REPEAT NOT ONE. EVERY THING CAME FROM MY OWN VERY BRILLIANTLY CREATIVE MIND.

This was on the ceiling of our front room and it may seem a bit extravagant but I assure you it was not, I only used one screw in the middle of my newly painted ceiling to hold all that craziness up.



This is the yummy treat table, full of healthy snacks to send home with all my nieces and nephews



The watering hole


I made otter pop slush, which was super tasty(and remember I came up with this stuff on my own, wow!)

A little more decor



If you thought that the cake on the treat table was a little crooked, you may have been right. It was hard to stack those layers. And don't get me started on the frosting job I did.



Baby face liked it, frosting and all



She just shoved too much in her mouth causing her to gag a little...it wasn't because my baking skills are lacking




Don't worry more pictures and excitement to come!

Not On My Watch

At the end of February the wild child decided it was time to stretch out those chubby little sea legs and take her first shaky steps. Chris and I have been a little surprised that it has taken her this long, she has done everything pretty early. One of the reasons it has taken her this long is she hates to be hurt. When she crawls under a table and bumps her head, the next time she goes under it she almost army crawls, tucking her head down low so she makes sure her head is not anywhere near the pain. Even now when she walks, she will cautiously sit down if there is even a small chance she is going to fall.
We loved watching her sit down and get back up with determination in her beautiful blues. She would curl her little toes around the carpet searching for traction, those curling toes causing her to fall even more. She would walk back and forth between Chris and I, taking 3 steps then waiting for us to cheer. She started to just throw herself at us and then she would cheer for herself at the top of her lungs. Bumps and bruises are inevitable. Luckily this happened on Chris's watch, while I was feeding the horses.

Recap and Leaping on

February 2012 has leapt not so graceful out of my life. Hopefully taking those colorless, heavy clouds with it. I really don't know what the deal was with February. It just didn't fit right. I have always loved the way the dark winter clouds fall silently on the mountains. Leaving the rocky treeless peaks uncovered to kiss the grey sky. But February just didn't fit. Melancholy held my hand this last month. And luckily for me we got an extra day to intertwine our icy cold fingers.

BOOKS I READ THIS MONTH:
'Chasing Rainbows' by Kathleen Long(boring)
9% of 'On Little Wings' by Regina Sirois(boring)
'Sundered' by Shannon Mayer(got to love zombies)
Short Stories from 'The Works of Edgar Allan Poe'(love)
38% of 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte(so far so good)
'The Whipping Boy' by Sid Fleischman(Newberry medal-winning)

MY IPOD PLAYLIST:
Across the Universe, The Beatles
Better Times, Beach House
The Calculation, Regina Spektor
Child, Sayde Price
Congratulations, Blue October
Dear Prudence, Across the Universe Soundtrack
Go Do, Jonsi
Happiness is a Warm Gun, Across the Universe Soundtrack
Here Comes your Man, The Pixies
Red Rabbits, The Shins
Redemption Song, Bob Marley and The Wailers
Somebody That I Used To Know, Gotye
En El Muelle De San Blas, Mana
Rome, Phoenix
How to Disappear Completely, Radiohead

FEBRUARY CD'S I DIG:
Wilt All Rosy, Sayde Price
2 Door Cinema Club(Thanks Dari)

THINGS BABYFACE LOVES TO DO:
Stand up by herself without holding on to anything and then taking 3 steps
Cheering loudly for herself when she walks
Growling when I say "Where is the monster'
Signing 'more'
Make a chicken sound when she sees the picture of the chicken on my kindle
Crawling down stairs
She said her first words (besides mom and dad), "What's that"
Pointing to things

Amore

The moon did in fact hit my eye and it was in fact Amore.
Valentine's Day was picture perfect. An exclusive, fancy restaurant, a beautiful table spread, and just wait until I tell you what I got Chris.
We started with bruschetta, heart shaped sour dough and all

Caesar salad, cheese-stuffed baked potatoes, chicken saltimbocca(one of the chefs doesn't like to touch chicken, good thing there were two chefs. Also the chefs couldn't find anything in the kitchen to flatten the chicken so they went to the shed..ahhh, perfect!)

Chocolate dipped strawberries

The table looked beautiful. This very fancy restaurant happened to have napkins from our wedding day

They also had the very wine glasses we got on our honeymoon
A perfectly yummy Valentine's Day!

Chris got me a bathrobe and bath salts because even though I take a nice long bubble bath every night, I have never owned a bathrobe.
We got the baby a puzzle.
I got Chris a kitchen knife sharpener...man I'm so romantic!