Wandering Browns

Celebrating Austin and Owen's birthdays... very late! Just because we are THAT crazy and love traveling THAT much, we visited my family in California for two weeks on our way back to Chicago, then made it to Denver for Christmas . At this point, we had a few pieces of fall clothing from our fall in Korea, but most of the clothing we had with us was not suitable for the weather in Chicago or Denver. So, as soon as we landed in Chicago, we headed over to our storage unit to go "shopping" for the things we needed in Denver. Because we were so tired of flying, we decided to DRIVE to Denver. We spent one night in Chicago, loaded up our stuff, and rolled out toward Denver around noon the next day. Owen took an epic nap, we met up with our old BYU swimming pal Zach for dinner in Lincoln, Nebraska, where we had planned on stopping and resting for the night. We decided to continue driving, though, so the boys would not have to spend another full day in the car. I drove durin...

Landon opening Auntie Em's present We flew into Colorado in the nick of time for Christmas! We tried our best to get into the Christmas spirit in Indonesia, but we were elated to be able to be in the United States with family for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Landon with his Christmas jammies! Christmas Eve, Austin's family has a traditional holiday dinner with his grandparents, and aunt. We had ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, etc. I made sugar cookies with Landon for dessert. I love baking and was happy to be back in a real kitchen. Familiar food was wonderful as well. Landon has changed quite a bit since our last visit so it was fun to see him interacting with all of his great-grandparents. Landon opened his Christmas jammies from Auntie Em. By the end of our time in CO, Landon was calling her "E Bim" and I think that might be her name now. We will see.  Landon in his Christmas PJs and Grandma Ev helping open Christmas morning was wonderful. ...

Before at the starting line As I mentioned before, we celebrated little Landon's birthday early with a family party. The day of his birthday, I woke up bright and early and Austin drove me to the Arvada APEX rec center for the start of a half marathon. I have never done a half marathon. My philosophy has always been that if I can run a distance for a training run, then I don't want to pay for it. Right before at the line! And we're off... Weellllll... I ran almost every day except Sundays in Korea, and started looking for races to work toward. I don't have the discipline to train for a marathon when I don't know exactly when the marathon would be, and I don't want to put excess miles on my joints for nothing. So, a half marathon seemed like a great option. Worried about the effect of the altitude, I made the goal for myself of under 2 hours. I had gone faster than this on all of the half marathon splits of my marathons, so I knew I could do it. Th...

The cake In Colorado, we celebrated Landon's birthday early because Austin's cousin was getting married on his birthday. We had great-grandparents over as well as cousins around Landon's age and a great-aunt. We had hot dogs, chips, watermelon, gold fish, jello cups, and a monster truck cake- all of Landon's favorite things right now, as well as chicken and veggie skewers for the adults. The grill master! The guests The boys Love his face! Evelyn and Austin set up a kiddy pool with slide and some toys while I decorated the cake. The frosting was a little too liquidy for the grass effect that I was going for, but I think that it tasted good and Landon loved that there were monster trucks on it. Landon enjoyed playing in the water, although I think he found it a little unsettling when Austin's cousin's two boys came to play and he had to share the space. I think he is used to playing at the park or other kids' houses, but not n...