Wandering Browns

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...

We spent a significant portion of our time in California getting over jet lag and doing all of the things that we miss when we're traveling- baking, cooking, eating awesome American and Mexican food, and spending tons of time with family. I am so happy that we were able to introduce Landon to some of my favorite family traditions. Landon and I made lemony sugar cookies with different colors of buttercream frosting. Landon helped by taking way too many tastes and manning the decoration/sprinkles station.  Our time in California flew by and was filled with tons of activities! Turns out my parents are pretty busy even with just one kid at home. Austin and I celebrated our anniversary with dinner at McClintock's in Pismo Beach- a cowboy-type steak house overlooking the ocean, and outdoor mineral springs hot tub. It was a very relaxing date! We attended Claire's piano recital (with my piano teacher from high school!) and band concert. We did some temple work for my ma...

How can my little baby Owen possibly be one?! Here he is as a brand-new little baby. His hair was so thick and dark for a newborn. It started to lighten up in Chicago, but it really lightened up in Korea to be a very improbable shade of strawberry blonde/auburn by his birthday. Since he looks so different from Landon, I thought that he looked just like a Livengood baby. Now, looking back, at pictures from his first year of life, I see both Livengood and Brown features. It will be interesting to see how he looks as he loses his baby fat and grows up. Owen never lost his hair completely, just had some bald patches along the way. I did not cut his hair until two days before his first birthday. I was not planning on having it cut, but Landon asked for a haircut and I at least wanted Owen's evened out a little. He had hair, at that point, that was long enough to get in his eyes and get caught in his eyelashes. Koreans thought he was a girl. So it was time. Owen's eyes are still mo...

We lost the 11 month tie during our move from our house to the road, so the 10 month tie got turned into an 11 month  Owen is 11 months old! I feel like this month, I have learned so much about Owen. I am around him 24 hours a day,  7 days a week, but I still am learning new things about him. He keeps me on my toes, for sure. This month, Owen is motoring around our room even more. He climbs the stairs fast, and can open and close doors and drawers. The worst thing he learned how to do this month is open the refrigerator. AHHHHH!!!!!!! Two times this month, I ran downstairs to get an onion or potato from the pantry items house mother provides, and came back upstairs to see Owen sitting in a puddle of broken eggs. Yes, Owen pulled a flat of eggs on himself twice, while dinner was cooking. He was so happy to be sitting in a puddle of eggs, though. So now, our eggs go high enough in the refrigerator so he can't reach.  Taking off his tie Owen loves to take t...

Our O-wee is 9 months old! This month, Owen has really exploded in all his is able to do in both fine and gross motor skills. He started refusing to eat puree off and on, opting to feed himself the majority of the time. He sprouted big chompers! So far, he has two big top teeth with an adorable gap in between, and two little bottom teeth, with two more coming in on top. He also followed the Brown boy tradition of chipping his front tooth. I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but he did face plant during bath one night, and with his increased movement has come increased falls, so during one of those falls a little piece of tooth chipped off. Thank goodness for baby teeth! Owen's hair has lightened up considerably to a light auburn and is long enough that I have to sweep it to the side so his bangs don't get in his eyes. I try to keep sunscreen on this boy, but somehow he's ended up with a farmer's tan this summer. He has never burned, so I guess he has the skin th...