Remembering Mom on Memorial Day

On the way to the Cemetery I had to honor my Mom by stopping and getting a LARGE diet coke as my Mom always had a large diet coke where ever she was going, a tradition that I happily continue!!!! Yes that is a 60 oz drink!!! My Dad went with me to put a patriotic flower arrangement at her grave site!!! The picture doesn't show the flower arrangement as nice as it really is, but the cell phone is all I have right now and I don't always get a good picture from that!!! But like it have said in past posts, it's better than nothing!!!

I sure hope for my birthday coming up on June 12th!!! My family will take all my hints about needing a camera!!! lol!

TexasBrownie.com

Wow, oh Wow!!! If you want a great brownie you need to go to Texasbrownie.com!!! I just ordered the cheesecake brownies and they are so good!!!And I have tasted the chocolate chocolate chip brownie as that is my Dad's favorite and he shared one of his with me! They were very very chocolate! I would have to say that the cheesecake brownies are my favorite so far but they have so many different kinds to try I might just find out I like others just as much or better!!!! I will sure enjoy trying and tasting them!!!

This was started by a couple in our Ward/Church and Yamilla is an amazing cook and baker!!! I so recommend that you go and give them a try!!!

Texasbrownie.com

Water For Elephants the movie and Becky........

Early in May was Becky Wangler's B-day! She is an excellent and awesome friend, but is also one of MaryAnn and my's Visiting Teaching sisters! We asked her what she wanted to do and we ended up doing a Dinner and Movie and went to see "Water For Elephants" which I was excited about because it was one of the movies I had wanted to see! Afterwards we also went shopping as well as giving our sweet friend gifts!!! And you guessed it -- from me she got a jelly watch!!! Funny! But it was a great one and she loved it! This was right after I found out my camera was broke and before I realized I could use my cell phone!!! But I did want to document this activity! The movie was awesome!!! I heard the book showed the meanness of the husband much worse then the movie did, and I'm o.k. with the fact that I haven't read the book then, because the movie was stressful enough!!! Love you Becky and happy birthday!!!

Stephanie Plum, here we come......

My birthday is in June and I am so excited because my sister found out that my favorite author of a series of Books that I just love, Janet Evanovich will be in Frisco, Tx, on June 24th and Elizabeth and I are going so we can buy the new book and have her sign it!!! I'm very excited to meet her. She writes a series of books about a Jersey Girl, Stephanie Plum, that through a series of mishaps and desperation becomes a bounty hunter, and not a very good one. These books my oldest, Anne Marie, got me hooked on and they are laugh out loud while you are reading it funny - plus there is also suspense, romance, and a happy ending, but never a dull minute!!! WARNING: There is however some language that I just skip over.....there is less and less of the language the further along the books go, so I was really happy about that!

My sister Ruth, loves them too, and both of us told my sister Elizabeth about them so she started reading them. While Elizabeth was reading them she would laugh out loud because they are so funny, so much so, that my brother-in-law Art decided to read them and he agrees they are funny and has read them all as well!!!

Alan's favorite characters in the book are Lulu and Grandma Mazer!

I'm ready for #17 - "Smokin Seventeen"!!!!

Double Date at Salt Grass......

To kick off our Memorial day weekend, we (Alan, Aileen, and me) went on a double date with Rebecca Albright and Greg Uribe at Salt Grass! We were very excited to do this and were happy to do this as a thank you for Greg saving our house from burning down!!!! Plus they are just awesome friends and any excuse to get together is o.k. with me!!! All day Saturday as we were running errands and doing chores around the house I would tell Aileen that She and I were going on a date with Daddy tonight! She would always get excited and kind of hide her face and smile, which is always so cute and a sign that she is excited about something. Then to top it off when she found out we were going with Rebecca and Greg she could not have been happier!

During dinner Rebecca said, "Oh, Aileen, I'm sorry I haven't been meaning to ignore you" and then proceeded to ask Aileen questions about her friends at Day Hab, about what activities she has there etc... Alan and I of course answered for her, but Rebecca has always been very sensitive to make sure Aileen knows that she is part of the party and that she will talk to her like she would any other adult 26 yr old. And that my friends is one of the many, many reasons that we love Rebecca!!!

It was a really fun evening! And lets not wait for my house to try and burn down a second time to double date again!!! Love you guys!!!

Visiting Teaching Luncheon......

We (MaryAnn Stephens and I) do have fun doing our Visiting Teaching!!! This month we had a luncheon and Yensey Willden and Kristen Jensen invited their visiting teaching ladies to come too, so it was a joint lunch and I must say Yensey made the best cake I have had in a long time!!! Thanks to Kathleen Brackney for having a birthday that we needed to celebrate!!! We (MaryAnn and I) had already visited most of our sisters, but we were given a new name and met her for the first time at this luncheon! Lacy Lassiter has only been a member for a year now and has the cutest 7 month old baby I've seen in a long time.....yes my grandma instincts kicked in and I had a great time holding the baby!!! I still don't have a camera yet, so cell phone pictures are the best I can do right now, but I say, it's better then no picture documentation!!! MaryAnn always has her back yard so beautiful and even though it was hot the wind and shade of her porch made it a lovely way to spend an afternoon!




Kristie, Yensy, Kathleen



Yamilla and her little girl



Yamilla's son




Mary Ann, Kristie, Yensy, and Kathleen



Lacy and baby



Me - Always in scrubs just getting off work and hurrying over!!! But happy to pick up Lacy and be there!!!

Livin' the good life!

I work at a Doctors office and as I call patients back to the examination rooms you always make a little small talk by asking how their doing, or isn't it a beautiful day etc.... almost always I get asked how I am doing in return. And I just noticed the other day that I always answer, "I'm livin' the good life!" To which there are a lot of smiles, and chuckles, some other random comments about how that is a great answer!!! But it's true. To our regular routine patients that I see 4 times a year for 3 yrs now, we may go into a more depth discussion about theirs and my children etc... and some may even ask, "so no problems?" Then I quickly tell them, "Oh, I didn't say that! - not everything is always runnin' smoothly, but its a great life!"

I am so grateful for my family and friends for my fabulous, magnificent husband. My awesome and amazing children (yes, that totally includes my son-in-law), a shelter over my head, food to eat, clothing to wear, jobs for my husband and I and a Heavenly Father who loves me and has provided all these blessing for me! A Savior that makes it possible to repent and try to do better daily and hopefully return to live with him someday! It's a great life!

Now on a silly note........ Sonic has an awesome new blast out, I encourage all to try it.....the Oreo double stuff blast! Yummy! It taste way different than just an oreo blast!!

I love, love, love Tim McGraw, saw him in concert once in Kansas!!! But totally love the song that he and the new American Idol did on the finale show last night!!! "Live Like You Were Dying" I think Scotty McCreery is going to be big like Carrie Underwood!!

Burn update

Count your many blessings name them one by one......

1. That the electrical burn smell happened while I was at home.
2. That we know an exceptional master electrician (Greg Uribe).
3. That he was willing to come over after a very long and frustrating day at work, very late at night and check everything out.
4. That even though, it was bad, (Alan could see it in his eyes) he just told us, "I know exactly what to do" and did it. He even changed out and upgraded our breaker box, air conditioner hook-ups, fixed the water heater connection before we got the new water heater installed, and really took care of who knows what else! And never really told us how bad it was!!!!
5. That Rebecca (his significant other) told me how blessed we really were. When Greg (master electrician) came to see her after being at our house....he said, "you're friend is lucky her house did not burn down". Who knows how long Heavenly Father kept us safe until we had this warning and could take care of it.
6. That we know a great plumber, Rick Frey, who helped Alan install our new water heater, even though it turned out to be one big hassled because the first one, when taken out of the box had obviously been dropped on its head, as it was all smashed up!
7. That Home Depot, just said sure -- here's another one! When we took it back.
8. That all is fixed now and working wonderfully.
9. How safe we feel now.
10. How blessed we are! Thanks Heavenly Father for your protection and answer to prayers!
(Pictured: Greg Uribe and Rebecca Albright)

Bishopric Temple Trip

Alan & Lois Brown, Rosa & Ben Tillman, DeeDee & David Ukle

Today was a great day. I was excited when Alan came home and told me that the Bishopric and their wives were going to go to the temple today! I called my fabulous 4th daughter, Katie, to see if she could babysit Aileen for me, and luckily she was available. It is the first time that we have done anything together since Bro. Ukle was put in as 2nd counselor! It was really nice to get to spend time together in this small group and get to know each other a little better on more intimate terms!

After we all went to lunch and visited, then headed back to Ft. Worth. It was a really nice trip to the temple!
Thanks Bishop for asking us all to be apart of this trip!

Someone borrowed!

I have been wanting to see the new movie out "Something Borrowed". So, I borrowed my girlfriend Rebecca to go to the movie tonight and get away from all the craziness that is my house right now!!! We both liked it and it had been some time since Rebecca and I had been able to catch up so I actually enjoyed the visiting as much or maybe even more so then that show!

It's never boring when you go somewhere with Rebecca and there will always be lots of happiness and laughing!!

Too much fun! Thanks Rebecca!

something is burning.....

So this morning I'm getting ready for work and I smell what smells like some electrical thing burning out so I go around and check all the ceiling fans. I go and check all the computer hook ups etc.... and then I walk into the kitchen and the burn smell is so strong I am seriously looking for an electrical fire and the closer I get to the wash room, I realize it is the Hot Water Heater. Then we find out some other electrical problems. Luckily I could throw the breaker switch off so I could go to work and not worry that my house would burn down.

But wow, kinda scary, and not what we really wanted to spend money on right now....but feel very blessed for the warning and to be able to stop it, and fix it, before something really bad happened!

Whew..... oh and if things really come in 3's as "they" say that it does, this should be #3 just in this week! I won't bore you with all the stuff. But hopefully we are done now!!!

The Prodigal Son comes to Gospel Doctrine.....

Today we had a special visitor come to my Gospel Doctrine class! The prodigal son, after he came home and was welcomed with open arms by his father, came to our class and told his story! This young man did an excellent job sharing his experience with us and teaching the importance of this story. Add to that we also talked about rescuing the one from the ninety and nine and how we would search for the lost coin. Then we ended with the Savior healing the 10 lepers and only one returns to thank and honor him who healed him. That 9 nine were healed physically but only one was made WHOLE!!! it was a great lesson with many insights and discussions from myself and the class! I MUST thank the Elders Quorum President for dressing up and playing the part!!! He did an amazing job and I felt the emotion of what he was sharing with us so I am sure the rest of the class did as well!

I also loved his answer to me when I asked him 2 weeks ago to do this. He said that this would totally be outside of his comfort zone and something he had never done before. So I asked if I should ask someone else even though I was sure he would do a great job. And his answer was, "I said that I would sustain you in your calling, so I need to be willing to back that up!" I never have felt so sustained and supported in my calling as Gospel Doctrine teacher as in that moment. Thank you Pres. Updike! Special thanks to Shelby Denti, for providing the costume and helping him get dressed up to play the part!

In sacrament meeting today, in celebration of the Aaronic Priesthood restoration they had a Priesthood choir sing. Alan who has always been told, not by me, but by others, that's o.k. Alan you don't need to sing in the choir...... sang! And I was so thrilled that he was able to have such an awesome experience being in a group of men singing about the Priesthood and it sounded so amazing! It had to be a very spiritual experience for those who participated!! When I asked Alan he said that it really had been and I can tell that he was pleased that it sounded so great! (Don't worry the picture was taken at a rehearsal, not during Sacrament meeting!!)

My last post is being featured

Ramona and I outside the Orlando Temple after going through a session together in 1994

My dear Friend Ramona, whom I attended BYU with, and lived in the same dorm/ward, then later lived in the same family ward in Murray, Utah after several years of marriage, also has an adult disabled daughter. When we met up again after BYU, I was just learning about Aileen's disability. Aileen was 2 and her daughter with a disability was 8. I have appreciated her example of how to be an extraordinary mother to a disabled child and even though I know I have been a good mother to Aileen it is always nice to have someone you can look to that has already been through what you are currently experiencing.

Her post this month talks about the service that these special children can give entitled "The Giver" and she asked if she could post my last post about Aileen's Letter from her friend Dawn.

Here is her link if you would like to see what beautiful insights she has to share with everyone. I always try to say the same types of things, but some people are blessed with the gift of writing and expression that is so beautiful and Ramona is one of these women. I will never be as eloquent! So enjoy one who is Mona's Musings.

Special mail to Aileen from her friend.....

At the beginning of this week I went to the mail box and found a letter for Aileen. We always try to make a big deal when Aileen gets mail because it is exciting for her to get something and its always fun to talk to her about how she must have a special friend that would write to her....

Dawn has been a special friend to Aileen and I love very much that she sent Aileen this letter. It's a "Hello Kittie" card. I asked Dawn if I could share her card with everyone! It was a very spiritual moment when I read it to Aileen.

"Aileen,
I've been thinking about you a lot the last few days. I just wanted to thank you for being such a good friend. You always bring a smile to my face whenever I see you. Some Sundays I feel so out of place and alone, it seems that when I feel that way you know. You catch on and either give me a hug or want to hold my hand. You'll sit next to me and remind me I'm not alone, that there are people who love me. You give me the courage and strength to keep going. I wanted to thank you for that. You are a special friend to me and I want you to know that I love you, I'm glad you and your family moved into our ward. The Lord knew I needed you. You have helped me more than anyone knows. It's your friendship that has made me press on when I feel like giving up. I wanted to say thank you and I love you.
Love Always, Your Friend,
Dawn"
Aileen and Dawn do have a special relationship. It has been fun to watch it unfold. One Sunday, Aileen just went up and hugged Dawn, and if you know Aileen, that is something because she doesn't tolerated hugs very well, so for her to initiate one is really something. Another Sunday Aileen directed me to where we were going to sit and it was next to Dawn! At a Wedding Reception my hands were full of plates of food for Aileen and myself and I was trying to have Aileen hang onto my arm and find our way around, when Aileen saw Dawn, went right to her and took hold of her and Dawn took her to find a table to sit at so we could sit down. There are many other things, but Aileen does know that she has a special friend in Dawn!
Thanks Dawn! I Love you Girl!

Mother's day - part 2

It wouldn't be Mother's Day if we didn't go pay tribute to my mother at her grave site. Even though we all know that she is not there, it is some comfort to feel like she has not been forgotten! I loved what the balloon said and thought it was very fitting. "A Mother's love is tied with heartstrings"

She was pinned!

Katie Butler was pinned! She has graduated Nursing School! Alan, Aileen and myself got all dressed up Thursday night to go and watch Katie get pinned! We are very proud of her and know that she has worked hard to get done with school so that she can get married next month!!! yay!

After the ceremony, which was very nice, All family and friends that were there went to Abuelo's for Dinner! I had never experienced this restaurant before and I have to say it is high to very high on my list of favorite places to eat Mexican food!!!

Congratulations Katie and we Love You!!!
Cell phone pictures are just not the same! I've got to get me a new camera now that mine has broken!!! :(

Mother's Day 2011

For Mother's Day I invited my family over to my home for a BBQ! I didn't stress out too much about the home (although if you know me it was very presentable) and Dad did the actual grilling of the steaks etc... and even though I was tired when it was over, it was a good tired and I felt like it had been an awesome Mother's day!!!
This is Alan's, Aileen's and my gift to Barbara for Mother's day......you guessed it a red "jelly" watch (it's what I am giving everyone this year, I love them so much ! In fact when I buy one of those jelly watches for someone else I have to buy one for me too! he-he!) and a red shirt. Elizabeth sent her a bouquet of tulips to her home.....Barbara showed us pictures she had taken of them.

Dad at the very old fashioned grill, but its what he likes and it does work!!! We had steaks, hamburgers and his famous grilled onions!!! Oh, my gosh, if you haven't ever had one of those, you are missing out!!!

Me and Daddy!

Barbara selecting her food items on her special day!

Alan taking care of Aileen so I don't have to, happy mother's day to me!!! Love this man!

Tootie and the girls digging into the great food!!!

My beautiful sister Elizabeth, and me!!! My camera broke, so she graciously took pictures for me......Also, another Happy Mother's Day to me!!!

Nephew, Logan Clay

Nephew Tytan Clay, who has decided he doesn't like his picture taken!!!

My awesome brother George! Who has to play both roles in his home so Happy Mother's Day to him! It's so hard being a single parent.

Aunt Tootie, who plays both roles in her home as well. We hope being with us helped your Mother's Day to be special.

My new brother, Chris Eldridge - thanks for sharing your mom with us!

It was a great day! My Gospel Doctrine lesson went well, the dinner went well, we visited with family, went to mom's grave site, celebrated that Heavenly Father has provided another earthly mother for us so that we will not be motherless! It was a great day!

A huge benefit.....

One huge benefit of my Dad being retired is I can now visit him when I get off work on Wednesday and bring lunch. Last week, I called and asked if he was home and could I come by. I brought lunch from Chicken Express and we visited and then were able to talk about plans for a Mother's day BBQ for the family! It was really nice. Glad we can do these things now!

My vote goes to.....

Hines Ward!!!

I love, love, love "Dancing with the Stars" I watch it faithfully!!! And this year I have been enjoying it even more than usual, not sure why!

I love Kirstie Allie, I love that she can dance even as a big woman and that she is 60 and not talking about her age all the time as an excuse and in fact doesn't want it to be a issue, and she's loosing weight! But to me I loved that she was good even when she was heavier.....being a big girl myself! Plus I like that she can laugh and not take her herself too seriously and just have a good time, but is willing to work, work, work, to learn the dances and be good. Too bad she has had some weird things happen. Once her partner fell, then she lost her shoe.....and for some reason last week, she totally forgot she was in a dance competition. But hey, you gotta love her!!!

I Also love Ralph Macchio "The Karate Kid" - loved that movie. Also like "The Outsiders" He as been good every week as far as I'm concerned. I think the judges robbed him of good scores on America week! His dance was awesome! Too bad about his injury this week. But he hung in there and was a true actor with "The show must go on...." So I have been somewhat torn as to who I really wanted to win.

But through it all I have loved watching Hines Ward. He just makes you smile every time! I love his attitude. His willingness to work hard and that he consistently "brings it" to the dance floor and last night his fox trot I think was my all time favorite! So Gene Kelly and the old movie dancing.....like in "White Christmas" when Danny Kaye gets carried away dancing out back after the men have just met the girls at their night club act..... LOVED IT!!!

So I wanted him to win before but now I REALLY want him to win!!!!

Go Hines!!!

Funny thing is I never vote! I know Crazy right? But almost every time the person I want to win wins!!! So here's hoping I haven't just jinxed it!

a little Harley-Davidson commercial....

Elizabeth's bike with all the upgrades that Art has put on it

My sister Elizabeth, and brother-in-law Art, have both recently gotten new Harley-Davidson's and if you know anything about these two, they go all the way on anything they do...they do it right! So they've been adding, adjusting, buying etc.. all kinds of HD stuff! This last Saturday they had gone to the dealership for something (knowing Elizabeth new clothes and gear) and coming out of the store the dealership asked if they could tape them for a commercial getting onto their bikes, putting on their gear, and riding off the lot....... so they did and it should air during the show "Son's of Anarchy" (never watched it in my life) but it would be fun if they actually were in the commercial.....because like my brother-in-law says, who knows how many people they have taped. But still really exciting!!!

My 4th daughter, Katie!

I know, you didn't think I had a 4th daughter, but I do! Katie is Allison's best friend from High School, she was Allison's maid of honor, and Allison is going to be a bridesmaid in Katie's wedding in June. Katie is also the one who comes and takes care of Aileen for me most all the times that I need help with Aileen. Since Allison and Anne Marie have moved away she helps when I am out of town, or going to the Temple, or the few times that Alan and I have gone out on a date. This makes Katie very special to our family and is in fact considered family by all my family. One of the special memories I have of my Mom is her love and appreciation for Katie, she thought the world of her. I think she was very empressed with Katie's love and care of Aileen and being a teenager and all. Katie is no longer a teenager, but still loves and cares for Aileen and she is graduating nursing School next week! Aileen, Alan and I have all been invited to see her get "Pinned" and then join the family for dinner! We feel so honored to be included and love that she is not embarrassed to have Aileen come and be apart of her special evening! We love you Katie and are so proud of you!!! Great Job!

I assisted in my first real live surgery!!!!!

If you follow my blog you know that I work for a podiatrist. And he is a very good podiatrist, so that makes it easy to enjoy my work. I have done many many preps for ingrown toenail surgeries and wart removal surgeries. But had never assisted in a real live surgery with stitches and everything before. But there I was on Tuesday, scrubbing, assisting, blotting, etc... It was tense, but now I think I know how the Doctor likes things done. Whew! I feel all grown up and important. But as you all know, I'm not, and the Doctor does all the real work! Buy hey, it was cool none the less!

Oh, No!, the water heater........

Over the weekend we noticed that our water heater seemed to be leaking puddles of water on the floor, either that or the washing machine was, and since the washing machine is very, very, new, we assumed correctly that it was the water heater.

We have a friend at church who is a plumber, so we called him to see what we needed to do and thought that probably we would be buying and installing a new water heater!

He came and checked everything out and said that the connections at the wall were old and corroded and that they water was then running along the tubing down the side of the water heater to the floor which made it look like it was coming from the bottom.

He bought the parts and came back the next morning and fixed it! Yay! Thank heavens for Bro. Frey! He saved the day! and we didn't need a new water heater.

Atlanta Temple Open House and Dedication

Having lived in Atlanta (Lawrenceville) for 3 yrs the Atlanta Temple holds a special place in our hearts. We were so excited that they were remodeling and then rededicating the temple, then found even more room for excitment when we found out my sister Ruth, who lives in Stone Mountain, GA, was asked to play her Cello for the occasion. I know that she played for the day that all the dignitaries had been invited to come to the Open House and other days as well. The Re-dedication happened on May 1, 2011.

Here is a picture of Ruth from the Church news!

Ruth Hauser, left, and Anne Mauss provide music in exhibit area during open house. (Photo by Gerry Avant)