Corn Maze with Zak & Kellee

What a great weekend we had! Seeing as how Geoff and I never see each other Monday-Friday cause we work complete opposite schedules... so we LIVE for the weekend. We invited our good friends Zak & Kellee to come up to Logan to hang with us Saturday night, and we had so much fun! Zak is probably Geoff's very best friend, and his wife Kellee is so much fun! She and I get along great, so we have an awesome time all together. We all went out to dinner at my favorite Thai restaurant here in town, hit up a pretty fun corn maze, and then we convinced the boys to watch a chick flick (Made of Honor). We both wish they lived here in Logan cause we don't have too many married friends that we both enjoy hanging out with. Here are a few pics of the fun we all had! Thanks for coming up Zak & Kel!

The four of us

Me & Geoff... he had a lantern for the corn maze, he is such a boy scout

The string maze. Zak & Geoff went ahead of us, trying to beat each other, cheating to win... and me and Kellee just walked together through the maze and made fun of our husbands.

On the corn maze together. Check out Zak's sweet boots

Zak & Kellee

7 things!

7 Things I Can Do

1. Work out 6 days a week. I am kind of a nut about this, but also pretty proud of that too!
2. Cook. Whenever Geoff lists the things that made him love me... the way I cook is the first or second thing on his list. I guess its a true- a way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
3. Hang out with 25 adults with disabilities. I love my job so much. I am going to miss it so much whenever we move to Texas. These people have inspired me and taught me more than anything I have ever done in my life.
4. Sing. Most people don't know that about me anymore. I don't really "share" that talent anymore, but growing up I was all about choir and vocal performance. I have sung probably about 30 solos or more in my lifetime.
5. Give myself really great pedicures. People mistake them for professional ones all the time.
6. Scrapbook. I never do it anymore due to time issues, but back in the day it was a huge hobby of mine.
7. Decorate! I love interior decorating sooo much! I am going to post pics up soon of my little apartment and what I have done with it.

7 Things I Can't Do

1. Sew (me either Hill). My mom wasn't huge into it, so I never really got into it either.
2. Go longer than a week without Diet Coke... believe me I have tried.
3. Go more than a few hours without texting or talking to Geoff... I am kind of addicted to that kid!!
4. Go more than a day or two without plucking my eyebrows... I HATE having stray hairs so I am a fanatic about checking my eyebrows
5. Eat without counting calories. I am kind of obsessed with calories and what I put into my body. Its a good thing but also kind of a bad thing cause I don't enjoy food as much.
6. I can't do the splits. I used to... but not anymore.
7. I can't help but have pride in my home state (texas)


7 Things That Attracted Me To Geoffrey (mind you we were like best friends for like a year and a half before we even dated, so these events occurred all over the place)

1. One of my first memories of Geoff where I thought he was pretty special was when at the end of one of the semesters, everyone had to move out of their apartments and move into different ones (weird I know), except for his apartment. Did that stop him from helping out? No! This man helped like 4-5 apartments of girls move, including mine. He was a sweaty mess, but man can that guy work hard! I love it!
2. His dimples. I love them!!
3. He has the most amazing blue eyes!!
4. His passion for things, even though they are sometimes so outlandish (salt water fish tanks, paraglyding...can you say $$$$)
5. He has such a great attitude about life. He has goals and hopes for the future but we always seem to have so much fun here and now!
6. How he would call me "hot momma"... haha... It makes me laugh to think of him saying that.
7. His love of the gospel. He bore his testimony one Sunday, a few months after I fist met him, and I remember how powerful it was.


7 Things I Want To Do Before I Die

1. Have babies!!
2. Travel (especially to Europe and back east- Boston, NYC and DC)
3. If we can afford it, I would like to adopt a child with a disability
4. Swim with sharks (its like my greatest fear & I want to face it, crazy I know)
5. Be with my entire family (including my sister) in the temple.
6. Take a roadtrip across the country and go to as many major league baseball games I can. How cool would that be?
7. Be the creator of a world famous recipe!

7 Things I Say The Most

1. "what the crap"
2. "fo shizzle"
3. "I love you"
4. "Is that appropriate behavior"? (I say this to the clients I work with everyday about 349058304958 times a day... we try to work on their social skills, ha ha)
5. "Remember to act like an adult" (again, to my clients)
6. "Talk to your staff" (yet again, to my clients... they always come to me for answers since I am the supervisor, but I redirect them to their direct care staff)
7. ???

My Favorite 7 Foods

1. Special K with redberries cereal.. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
2. Diet Coke (ok its not really a food, but i love it sooooooo much!!)
3. cheesecake, though i rarely eat it now because of the high calorie count
4. I love a good, juicy steak (i am a texas gal)
5. mashed potatoes
6. corn on the cob
7. pumpkin flavored anything!!

Day out at the zoo!

Well we went to the zoo last Friday with my older brother Tyler & his wife Heather, their little girl Abbi, and my little brother Brett. It was alot of fun, but very tiring. There was 5 adults and one little girl, and it took all five of us to keep up with little Abbi. She doesn't know how to walk- she only runs! But it was so great to see her face light up while looking at all the different animals. She is so smart ( i know i have said that a million times before, but she really is way above average for her age). Later on that night, we all went to dinner, and my little brother's girlfriend Abbey (yes, another Abbey, just spelled differently) joined us, as well as my Uncle Greg & Aunt Janette. It was such a great, wonderful weekend. I enjoyed so much listening to conference, all snuggled on my couch with Geoff. He is so wonderful, and I fall more in love with him every day. (ok, i know you guys are all gagging at the cheese, but I can't help myself). Here are a few pictures from our lovely weekend!

Cutest pic of Abbi & her favorite uncle! He just got his haircut and she loved running her fingers through it.

Riding the carousel with Abbi.

Abbi & her favorite guys!

Abbi & her mom, Heather, looking at the monkeys.

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!!

Season of weddings!

Its that time of year... everyone seems to be getting married or close to it. Yesterday, Brett (my little brother) and Geoff and I went down to Salt Lake to go to my cousin Alex's wedding reception. It was really good to see all my family... especially my grandparents. I know I am bias but seriously, I have the COOLEST grandparents. You can actually talk to them about things in your life. They are very hip & know what you're talking about. I love being around them & it's cool for Geoff to have grandparents again because all of his are now deceased. Anyways, it was really great. We went over to my uncle Greg & aunt Janette's house after the reception & hung out with them. They are really neat people because they have 2 sons with autism & the oldest, Nicholas has a very special place in my heart. Because of him, my life is all about special education. So it was great to just hang out with my aunt & talk to her about special education & so on. Here are a few pictures from the reception

Grandparents with Alex & his new wife Emily

My cute husband & little brother Brett

My cute cousin Chelsey

Uncle Marv & Aunt Denise

Cute cousins Nelson & Spencer


Me & the Hubs

... And today I threw my best friend a bridal shower... We did the traditional gift giving and stuff. Asked questions about her husband to be. And it just made me reflect on my own wedding day & how special it was. I seriously can't remember a moment that was more amazing than the day I made a family forever! What a great day it was. Anyways, here are a few photoes from the shower. It was pretty fun.

The fantastic food I served... pretty tasty!

Jen opened up her presents & put all the special things she got on, silly girl!

Our Brown Family camping trip up Logan Canyon

Wow, Cami looks like... she has been camping!
Geoff & Wyatt & Emma

Geoff & Wyatt again.. so cute!

Geoff & all his nieces... the best uncle ever!

Cami & Aubrey & Allison

Our first time giving a talk as a married couple

Today Geoff & I had to speak in church. I thought we got pretty lucky after being married for almost a whole year & never having to give a talk in church, but the bishop eventually got to us & we spoke today. It was a pretty cool experience though. We spoke on Elder Wirthlin's talk "Consider the One". I never realized just how great of a public speaker my husband is. He hardly looked at his notes the whole time. I was pretty darn proud. It didn't hurt that he looks like a very good looking James Bond in his $600 suite =) Our good friends Jen & Gene who are getting married in one month, came to hear us speak, as did my little brother Brett. We are very blessed to have such good, supportive friends & family in our lives.