The Browns Traveler, vol 1

Yo Ho! Yo Ho! A pioneer's life for me...

Healthful Living

On June 6-9, 2012, Darren and I had the opportunity to be a ma and pa on the pioneer trek. What an amazing experience. We absolutely loved our family!

The before picture: doesn't he look like a true Stetson Man?

Another before pic: we definitely were not this clean after 4 days of trekking

"rollin', rollin', rollin', keep those handcarts rollin'"

most of our family: Natalie, Ben, Luis, Katie, Kaytlyn, Quint and Kassy

pa and the girls

chicken pluckin' time

Tug 'O' War. We won a bag of salt water taffy! :)

The kids playing the "sign game"...and Natalie shaking our cream into butter.

Doesn't she look excited? :)

One of my favorite parts of the trek...our family cooking around the handcart.

Such a fun time!

Chili and scones (with honey!) Our favorite dinner by far!

YUM!!

Our family: Aubrey, Gareth, Luis, Katie, Kaytlyn, Ben, Quint, Kassy and Natalie.

This pic includes us along with Aunt Chandra and Uncle Scott.

Our family would not have been the same without them. They are amazing!!

Names from the "sign game": random kid, More!, cup 'o' noodles, tiger-slicing,

take a picture, Tarzan, chopping wood, sonic boom and tree-man.

I can still see and hear Quint lying on the ground laughing...haha :)

the last day...not too much farther to go

Can you see our "unity stick"? The kids pilfered handkerchiefs from the

other families so we could have our flag of many colors.

"Go pirates!" It was such a great idea!

Such great kids! Thank you for all your hard work and great examples.

We will always remember you and love you.

"YO-HO! YO-HO! The pioneer's life for me. ARRGGHHH!!"

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Dancing through life

Healthful Living

For my birthday Darren bought us dance lessons. It was super fun! We learned a couple different dances including the Cha-Cha. We weren't great but we had a great time!! Thanks babe :)

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To honor this special holiday, Darren and I drove to Phoenix to attend the 93rd Annual Memorial Day Program celebration at the Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery. The speaker told a touching story and shared some inspirational words about courage and strength. There was a special feeling of reverence in that hallowed place.

We attended this event last year which got me thinking about my great-grandfather, whom I never met, that was supposedly buried in Phoenix. So today on our way to Phoenix, I called my grandpa to see if he could remember the name of the cemetery that his father was buried in, thinking we might be able to visit it after the program. He told me it had the words "green" and "lawn" in it. You can imagine my surprise when it happened to be the same cemetery we were planning on visiting that day. And that it was the same cemetery we had visited the year prior! Crazy! So I was pretty excited to see if we could find the grave. After roaming around for about half an hour we decided to go ask the office staff for help. When we received the coordinates it was only about 2 rows away from where we had been looking. It was great to be there in that beautiful place honoring a grandmother and grandfather who are a part of me, even if we have never met. I am grateful to have a holiday such as this to make me stop and think of those who have fought and died for our country and also to those relatives who have gone before. It is humbling to think that there is a part of them in me and a part of me in them and that together we can walk into the future.

Program: Presentation of Colors, National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, Wreath Presentation Ceremony, Taps, Rifle Salute and a Fly Over by the E.A.A. Squadron 20 Formation Flying Team

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Solar Eclipse; May 20, 2012

Healthful Living

We didn't have any high-tech gadgets so we had to stick with the "hole-in-a-paper" trick. It worked pretty well. Darren got a really good shot while pointing our camera at the sun. (see the little crescent at the bottom left-hand corner?) Pretty cool!! The universe surely is an amazing thing.

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Cinderella

Healthful Living

Darren surprised me with tickets to the Cinderella Ballet. I don't know if I'm anything like Cinderella but he definitely is my prince :)

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Cove Fort, Utah

Healthful Living

About two weeks ago we took a trip to southern Utah to visit Darren's parents on their mission at Cove Fort (a pioneer way station built in 1867, now a church historic site). It was great to be there and have them share their experiences with us. It is such a beautiful place! We also had the opportunity to visit Kolob Canyon and Fremont Indian State Park.

Kolob Canyon: parts of it reminded me of Sedona

this explains so much...haha :)

Darren and I took a hike up one of the smaller peaks. What a breathtaking view!

"I think I see it over yonder..."

Giddy up cowboy!

Isn't he handsome?!?! And that's even with hiking sweat. Must be love :)

Ira Hinckley cabin. He was asked by Brigham Young to build this fort back in 1867.

(Ira Hinckley was President Gordon B. Hinckley's grandfather)

The Historic Fort.

Darren's parents took us on a tour of the different rooms, the blacksmith shop, the barn and the garden. I absolutely loved the garden! Asparagus. YUM!

Oh yeah...we could've totally been pioneers. Easy cheese. NOT!!!

Darren won the ring race. It's hard to keep that thing rollin'. Sure was fun to try though :)

petroglyphs/pictographs outside the Freemont Indian Museum

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Spring Training

Healthful Living

Spring training game at Salt River Fields. Darren caught this ball during batting practice. Isn't he cute!?! :)

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Lions, tigers and bears...oh my!!

Healthful Living

On March 24th we had the opportunity to go to Tucson to attend our nephew's baptism. We are so proud of you Jamison :) It was great to get together with our families for the day. We even went to the zoo. How fun is that? I hadn't been to the zoo since I was about 13 or so so it was a lot of fun. :)