Wandering Browns

Landon's 5th birthday morning started like any typical kid's birthday morning, with a twist. We had hoped to be back in the United States for his birthday, but in reality, we were still in Vietnam for a few days afterward, and then on vacation for awhile before heading back to the U.S. I decided to pack a few books with us to give him for his birthday, because we had no idea how long we were going to be in Vietnam, and fresh reading material in book form vs. Kindle is a big deal for him. I knew we would not be back for awhile, so I wanted to give him his presents on his birthday, and have a party, and be done with it. It was certainly more difficult to do so in Vietnam vs. America, but I think he loved his birthday anyway. To make things more complex, Landon requested that I make a scavenger hunt for him to find his presents. He was so excited he woke up and found all of his presents using the clues right away, and then couldn't wait for Austin to get out of the shower t

To keep up the tradition, I did Landon's yearly birthday interview, and it's amazing that some of the responses were the same as last year! I love hearing his answers to some of the questions, he's a quirky kid.  I took his five-year-old pictures on the beach at our hotel in Phuket, Thailand. So the background is real, not a photo back drop! Favorite colors: black, white and orange "Halloween colors" Favorite Letter: "B" because it starts BMW Favorite Animal: I don't have one Favorite Dinosaur: T-rex Favorite (home) school subject: Science Favorite brand: Exercise clothes (He's become obsessed with Nike and Puma the past few months) Favorite number: 6 Favorite sea creature: Humpback Whale Favorite food: meat, pork chops (news to me!) Favorite dessert: Chocolate cake Favorite toy: cars Favorite activity: stay home and play Favorite sport to play: soccer Favorite sport to watch: frisbee (Austin's co-workers and I p

With Landon's birthday coming up, I thought it was about time to give an update on both our boys. Here are some fun facts about Owen right now: - Owen's hair has bleached out this summer in the strong Vietnamese sunlight. It still has more of an auburn glint to it vs. Landon's, but it's pretty blonde. - Asians think Owen is a girl. Without fail, regardless of his hair cut. They say his eyes are too pretty to be a boy. In China, they would just ask me, or point to Landon and use hand signals to ask if they were the same or if Owen was a girl. In Vietnam, they go straight to the diaper and either peek inside or feel for his penis. It would be surprising/shocking/unacceptable in the U.S., but it's just a cultural difference. They mean no harm, they are just curious here! - Owen is having a vocabulary explosion! He labels everything and has started to put words together to make simple sentences and phrases. He still LOVES animals most of all, but is also interested

On June 23rd, my one and only brother got married in the San Diego LDS temple to a perfect girl for him. Greg is a very quirky guy but has amazing qualities as well, and she adores him for who he is. Heather is sweet and smart and fits in great with our family. Needless to say, we were thrilled to be a part of their engagement, and heading back from China for the wedding was the only option.  Their wedding day happened to fall on our visa trip weekend, so we all flew back from China and made it to San Diego the night before the wedding. After a late Chipotle dinner, we all slept until around 1:00 am, and then walked around in the gardens of our hotel from 1-3:30 am, at which time we came back inside and slept until morning. We let the boys sleep in as much as possible, and they actually did great and made it to the temple in time! The sealing ceremony was really special, and Landon brought his camera to be the "wedding photographer". All of his pictures have the fra

I'm not sure if you're aware, but being a mom is really difficult. I feel like I had a decent amount of preparation for being a parent, including being the oldest of five siblings, babysitting and teaching a ton of swim lessons as a teenager and beyond. I LOVE kids. After getting a bachelor's degree in Exercise Science, I earned a doctorate in Physical therapy. I did internships in pediatric settings with children with a variety of special needs. I pursued pediatric therapy as a career. That's how much I love kids. And I do love my kids! So much!  But, in some moments, my kids are really hard to love. As I pray and try to figure out how to remedy this situation, I had the impression to study the scriptures more. At first I thought, "Yeah, right, like my kids will let me do that!" As we arrived in Israel, I had the impression to study the New Testament more. I've had a sad, kinda scary thought that comes back to haunt me every once in a while. We hear ov

View of the Sea of Galilee from the church balcony As a devout Christian and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I was SO EXCITED to tour around Israel! I had explained to Landon that we were going to be visiting places where Jesus Christ lived and taught and he was pretty stoked too. We arrived in Israel on a Thursday morning, and after a half day of work orientation for Austin on Friday, we started checking out the area. We were careful not to do too much with our jet-lagged boys, but we wanted to make the most of this incredible opportunity! One of the things I was most excited about was visiting the Sea of Galilee, and attending church in Tiberias. The boys were still pretty jet lagged on Saturday morning (Owen was up for a few hours in the night, and Landon was up for the day at 3:30 am!), but that didn't matter, we were going to church and see the place where Christ spent a significant portion of his ministry! We never know how long it is going t

For a few weeks now, I have been wanting to record some of the interesting and cute things that both my boys are doing right now. They are so full of energy, destruction, love, curiosity, and more energy! Without further adieu, here's what Landon has been up to: - Landon LOVES all things science. Dinosaurs, marine biology, electricity, geology, anatomy and physiology, animals, physical science, astronomy- he is really into learning about all of these subjects right now. For our home school preschool, we do "reports" off and on where we learn about a specific subject, or do an experiment, and Landon draws a picture of the subject/experiment, and then he directs me on how to label the picture. I have him give me three facts about what we learned and I write those down too. I recently reintroduced him to The Magic School Bus books and he loves them. - We're still working through sensory issues, but things are much better. Landon is a textbook sensory seeker. He p