A couple of weeks for family fun!!

We have been very lucky these past couple of weekends to spend time with both of our families. Two weekends ago, we went down to Cedar City to visit Geoff's family and to attend a family reunion. It was a lot of fun to all be crammed in his parents house with little kids running around everywhere. I am mad because I totally forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures. But rest assured, it was loads of fun. We went to see Batman with Geoff's sister Hillary and her husband Ethan and also Geoff's older brother Cory. They all hated it, which was surprising since Geoff is pretty much obsessed with that movie (we have seen it three times and every time we like it more!) And we had lots of family fun. We ate lots of good food, as Geoff's mom is a fantastic cook. We made lots of fun memories and feel blessed to be near to at last one of our families so we can have weekend visits like that.

This weekend my brother Tyler and his cute little family including his rad wife Heather and the CUTEST little girl Abbi Lynn, came into town. Geoff, me and my little brother Brett who lives up here in Logan all went down to stay at my grandma's house in SLC for the weekend. We had so much fun, it was hard to leave (we got back into town around 3 in the morning last night because we just couldn't seem to leave). The best part of the weekend was being with my little Abbi. She is seriously the smartest little girl. I wish I had taken some video of her singing all her songs. Geoff is taking a gifted learners class and both he and I suspect she is way above average for her age. She was potty trained at like 18 months, and talks like a 20 year old. The best line of the whole weekend was when her dad was going up the stairs, and she was sitting on them & said "Stop, you can NOT cross over my bridge until you make my laugh!"... and she is only 2!! I worked as a preschool teacher for about 2 years and she is way smarter than any of the four year olds I worked with. It's hard not to just love her. Plus she is stinkin' the most adorable little girl alive. We will be going back down on Friday to take her to the zoo & I can hardly wait!

Me and little Abbi. We took her to the park to play

Abbi & Uncle Brett at the park

Uncle Geoff watching a movie with Abbi. She absolutley adores him. She was crying one night and would only go to Geoff, even over her own Dad.

Napping together. It was too cute not to take a pic!

My special friend Laura

As many of you know, I work with adults with disabilities. I have worked at Cache for a span of 2 ½ years and I have fallen in love with so many of the clients I work with, especially one in particular. Her name is Laura, and she is one of my greatest heroes. Laura was born with cerebral palsy among many other health problems. She is extremely bright, and has one of the greatest senses of humor I have ever known. When I am with Laura I really feel a spirit of charity. She is one of the most humble, grateful people I know. She says thank you for just about everything you can think of. I have had many opportunities to take Laura to the temple and I have had some really awesome spiritual experiences as I have helped her through sessions and seen her light up as she serves so willingly. Tonight me and some other co-workers (including my little brother Brett and his girlfriend Abbey) went and took Laura to dinner and we had such a great time. Geoff couldn’t come as he was working. Tonight has just made me feel so blessed to know someone like her, with all the health problems she struggles with, she remains so positive and happy. I remember during Christmas I took Laura shopping and we had a pretty serious conversation. I asked her what she wanted Santa to bring her and she responded “I wish I could walk. I wish someday I can get married. The great thing is, I know because of the Savior, someday I will”. Laura shows such great faith and I hope to someday be as Christ-like as her. She is a true testament to me to never ever ever give up.

*On a side-note many have asked how my family is doing in Houston with the hurricane. They decided not to evacuate out of Houston but to go to my brother's house which is more inland in Houston. Last night was a long night for them. My parents house is only about 4 miles from NASA, and if you read the news, many many homes are submerged in water. The news also reports that the power could be out for over a month!! My parents and brother report that its like a war zone down there. So it looks like my parents could go home to a flooded, very damaged home. I pray its not the case, but we are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. My brother's home which is in Pearland, recieved minimal damage. My brother did say their neighbor's roof blew off. Pretty crazy huh? I am just glad none of my family was hurt. It has been a very stressful few days for me, waiting for this stupid hurricane to pass through. So all seems to be well for now.

My best friend's wedding!

Today my best friend Jen Pulham got married to Gene Bott in the Salt Lake temple. It was a very neat sealing, and I was glad Geoff and I got to be there. I am very happy she found someone who treats her the way she deserves. Gene is a good guy who will take good care of her. She looked beautiful, in a very simple, but classy dress that was perfect for Jen. Here are some pics of the big day.

Coming out of the temple... yay!

Geoff and I at the reception

Us with the happy couple

The newlyweds! Gene & Jen Bott

Our anniversary weekend & meeting the prophet!

I still can't believe it's been a whole year since Geoff & I got married in Salt Lake, but at the same time I have a hard time remembering what life was like before I was Mrs. Brown. I do know this, life is a million times better than I ever knew it could be! Well, we celebrated by going to park city all weekend. It was a blast. We stayed at the Carriage House Condiminiums, which is a pretty sweet place to stay. I tooks like six bubble baths (we don't have a tub @ home and taking baths is one of my FAVORITE things to do, so I had to stock up). We did LOTS of shopping, spent too much money, and just enjoyed being together 24/7. We both got each other new watches as gifts to each other. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new watch. Geoff's is super nice too. It rained a bit on sunday night & monday morning so our Monday morning hike got canceled but thats okay because we went out to breakfast in salt lake & as we were sitting there, I looked over at the door & PRESIDENT MONSON walked in with his wife. I started to freak out. Being from Texas, this is NOT an everyday occurance for a prophet to be in my midst. So I told Geoff that I had to go talk to him. So i walked to over to him, Geoff following, and very timidly said "um, sorry to bother you President Monson, but can I shake your hand?"... and he said with a smile "Oh, you're not bothing me" and shook my hand... then he looked over and Geoff (who was wearing a Utah State hoodie & said something like "Oh, Utah State huh?"... and we explained thats where we go to school & then he said how lovely Logan is. Then a mob of people came and lined up to talk to him as well, so I decided to let them have a turn. I wanted to sit there & talk to him for a long time... but I decided his bodyguards were watching somewhere & they might think I was some kind of freak. But man, can I tell you that was by far the biggest highlight of our trip? It's interesting seeing him at a normal little dinky restaurant & yet it's still the same feeling I have when I see him on the tv screen during conference. Can't deny he is the prophet of God. What a great anniversary we had. I feel like the luckiest woman alive. Geoff is by far the sweetest (& sexiest!) man alive... and treats me like a queen. Two days before our anniversary I had a panic attack about clutter in our house. (which is funny because it wasn't all that much, but I am just a neat freak to the extreme)... well while I was at work, Geoff went through each room and organized it, cleaned it, and made it PERFECT... wrote me the sweetest letter and got me a beautiful boquet of roses. I loved it. Made me so grateful for August 31st, 2007, the day I married my best friend for forever. Marrying him was the greatest decision I have ever made. Here's to the first year and many more to come!!

Isn't Geoff the CUTEST?!?

Our new watches!

Story behind this picture is I am quitting diet Coke. The rule is I can have it when eating out. I am drinking the goodness of Diet Coke after a week of not having it... It was such joy to be reunited with my beloved drink!!