The Lost 30 Days

I just need to accept the fact that December came and went and I'm never going to catch up on the Mesa Brown happenings in this blog.  So much to write about, so little time.

So, some highlights...

• My husband is walking on two feet again, boot and cast-free, and has even gone on a couple of mountain bike rides.  Woot!  Woot!  But no running yet.
• Caught up with so many good friends at the Christmas party.  Ate lots of Mexican food.  Ate too many holiday treats.  I may or may not have gained a couple of pounds, but I'll never know since I don't get on the scale.  The jeans still fit, so that's a plus.
• Christmas was fabulous.  Kids were a little spoiled I fear. 
• We did our alias gift names from Napoleon Dynamite this year instead of the traditional reindeer names.  We had Pedro Sanchez, Uncle Rico, Kip, LaFawnduh, Napoleon, and Tina the Fat Lard.  Guess who I was?
• Technology is raging at our house with all things "i".  iphones, ipods, ihomes, ipad, iMacs.  Craziness.  We are the iBrowns.
• Just Dance 3 on the Wii is the latest craze at our place.  We are daily breaking into fierce sweats as we bust our moves and try to out-dance the freakishly smooth cartoonish dancers leading us with our Wii remotes on screen.  It is seriously too much fun.
• I'm an aunt again.  My SIL, Lacey, had her baby.  See my one and only December post below for a pic of cute Brody.
• My cousin Cami got married in the Mesa Temple last week and it was wonderful.  Lots of family in town, lots and lots and lots of cousin time.  Bowling, movies, all-day and night play dates.  A cousin sleepover.  Kid fest for two weeks straight.
• We lit up our first ever Brown family fireworks on New Year's Eve.  Weaver and Berrey cousins, our kiddos, and all of Barrett's friends who were over to party had a blast with the fire.  I think Easton might be a closet pyromanic.  He loved it.
• The house was fully de-Christmased by January 2nd - a new record I think (at least a new record in this house).
• In early December, we underwent what seemed like a fairly substantial exterior face-lift on the house and survived.  Overgrown trees removed and replaced, front porch area re-done with new stained stamped concrete (still have to have the distressing coat and sealer done later in January), garage painted, pool fence removed, new pool/patio deck poured to expand for more seating/lounging, 1/2 ton of rock laid, boulders, trees, plants, exterior lights added, sod to patch the tree removal holes, pool file fixed.  Still more work to be done, but it's finally looking good after 7+ years in this house.
• Rowan turned 8 on Dec 29th and is getting baptized on Saturday with her cousin, Lily Berrey.  We're all excited for her.
• It was Black Wednesday yesterday.  I turned 40.  Enough said.
• It will be Black Sunday on the 8th.  Ryan's turn to start his new decade, unless we keel over before then from the ridiculous one car garage fumes from the newly stained floor.  And we still have two coats to go.
• The real 40th birthday celebration will begin in a little over a week when we head up to Vail for a week of Colorado skiing.  So excited!  Pray for more snow.  We're taking the kids and my mom for the first half of the week, then Ryan and I are staying for another 3 days.  I can hardly wait.
• New 2012 church time at 9:00.  Love it.
• Lots and lots of running.  Three big races coming up.  The first is Sedona on Feb 4th and I'm a little nervous about it.  Elevation, hills.  Crazy hills.  More hills.  The pictures better be worth it since I won't be setting any new records on that one.
• Getting excited for the Ragnar.  Our team is meeting this Saturday to choose our legs.  200.5 mile relay,12 people from Wickenburg to Tonopah to New River to Carefree to Fountain Hills to Scottsdale to Tempe.  Feb 24-25.  Crazy fun in store.

Ok, that's enough.  I'm kinda sorta caught up on the highlights.  Life is good. We are healthy.  Ryan is getting busier at RMB and taking on some new clients and new properties, which is fabulous.  Hopefully business is picking up again.  Hope to start posting again.