A Few of Our Favorite Things - 2020

Hi, Family!

A couple weeks ago I asked for pictures of some of your favorite things from 2020 so far. It's been fun to see pictures from you guys! Thanks for sharing!!  So here we go:

Here are a few of my favorites so far (even though it's way too had to narrow it down)

We moved out of our apartment that we've lived in for about 4 1/2 years and into a house that we're renting from a family friend. We've already had a few family get-togethers to break it in and have named it "Bag End" in honor of Bilbo, since it reminds us of a Hobbit hole. :)

One time we asked my mom and dad if we could borrow some foam mats from their house (which is in the same neighborhood as our house now) and the next we thing we know, they showed up with the foam mats - and David riding on top of the car to transport them! 😄

 Cohen also turned 1 in March and my dad made him a toilet cake to dig into, since Cohen has a strange fascination with splashing in toilets...

And since Cohen's birthday is just a little bit after St. Patrick's Day, we did

 "The Pot at the End of the Rainbow" as a theme for his cake.

From Malia's family:

Benji and their Great Dane, Sarabi are such good buddies!

They took a few pre-baby pictures with Ben before he got a new sibling.

 (Ben definitely got his posing skills from his dad...)

And now Benj and Eli are good buddies, too!

From Jenni and David Salofi:

They got to have the gender reveal ultrasound - it's a GIRL!!

*Fun side note:

In 1989 there were three babies born, 2 girls and 1 boy - Liz, Ben, and Tiana

In 1993 three more babies, 2 girls and 1 boy - Mo, Hali, and David Salofi

In 2016 three more babies, 2 girls and 1 boy - Wendy, Cora, and Adam

And now in 2020, three more babies, 2 girls and 1 boy - Margo, Eli, and soon Jenni and David's girl!

Kind of fun to keep the pattern going all these years!

Ok, back to Jenni's pictures!

This was Jenni's view while riding in the car with David on the roof.

 All four of us sisters with the different ages and stages of our babies! :)

Jenni is making a super cute Ocean themed room for "Baby Charmander" and spruced up an old dresser to go with the theme.

And then there's Loafie, always coming up with a new way to get in a workout.

 These are from Heather's crew:

A bunch of the Brown family took a drive to the South Hills to see the hummingbird feeders. Brian and Gabe (when he was little) took a bunch of  hummingbird feeders and some benches to little spot in the South Hills and were caretakers up there for a while. Gabe was little and called them "Honeybirds". :) 
   On their way up there this time, Rachel was giving all the little boys a turn to sit in her lap and drive with her, so after waiting his turn, Cody told her, "My turn, Rachie!" And climbed over onto her lap to help drive! 😄

Lisa says that the best times to see the hummingbirds is from April through September! It would definitely be worth the trip to go see them!

 Aubrey and Greta being pals. :)

Wendy and Brittany hanging out together.

Brad and Heather and their little family also went on some cool adventures together!

From Rachel:

She says that Korbyn is still a fan of catching little critters - like a lizard in this case!

 From Ben and Kim:

They've really enjoyed being able to stay home and do church there together.

From Lizzy and Jacob:

They got a new addition to their family this year! They now have Creed, Thea, Chloe, and Eliza!

From Kelani and Codybird:

They're just having a blast with little "Magalicious" and all the cute things she's doing as she's getting bigger!

Cody also decided it was time to go the Mohawk route again, so Kelani tried her hand at it and gave him a Mohawk.

From Ron and Jana:

Grandkids, grandkids, and more grandkids!!

 A random-ish reunion at the Dollar Tree, including with Maddie!!

Cohen makes that face when he smells something - in this case, Tei-Fu...

Jenni and David are getting lots of extra practice loving on a little girl while they wait for their's to come! Maggie makes the rounds and is quite the little lady. :)

Thanks again for sharing the pictures!

If anyone else has pictures or stories they feel like sharing, I'm always more than happy to put them on here so just let me know!!

Love you all!

Ode To a Toad and Springy Updates

In July of 2015 we took a family road trip back to Nauvoo and had a caravan of about 4 cars or so, all on our way to visit Lisa while she was on her mission.

Rachel wasn't able to make it so our family took Korbyn and Logan in our car with us!

We left early in the morning and by the time we made it to Wyoming, Korbyn called to talk to Rachel and was overheard to tell her, "Yeah, I'm already kind of starting to forget what you look like."

I had the great honor of riding in the backseat with Korbyn and Logan for the majority of the drive and was privileged enough to be present for Logan's "Fart Nest"...enough said.

I think out of all the things we did during that trip, one of the boys' favorite things was stopping at the gas stations and buying whatever sugary squeezey snack tubes, junk food, and other treats they could find.  

The entertainment was endless (as were the farts)...

It was so fun to see Lisa and be in Nauvoo again with some of the family! 

On the way back home we all stopped at a motel in Nebraska and after staying the night we headed out for the Farm, which we would get to that night.

We got to the motel kind of late at night but Korbyn immediately managed to find out that there were toads all around the little motel courtyard and with skills to make his Poppa Brian proud, was catching toads left and right!

Logan was right there with him and as soon as we got up the next morning, they were right back at it.

Everyone was busy packing up, getting breakfast, and loading up while the boys were just having fun seeing how many toads they could find before it was time to leave.

During the drive home, Korbyn seemed a little more mellow than usual but always assured us that he was fine. We drove from Nebraska back to the Farm and got home late that evening. As we all piled out of our cars, somehow in the hubbub of it all, Korbyn disappointedly let us in on his secret - he had caught a toad prior to getting in the car in Nebraska and stuffed it in his pillowcase to take back to the Farm with him. 

Somewhere between Nebraska and Jerome, his little toad friend croaked - not literally - but as in, his toad died in the pillowcase. It was a miracle that anyone survived a car ride full of Logan's "Fart Nest" and would have been beyond amazing if a toad could have pulled through something like that.

We were all more than shocked to find out that he had snuck that little toad all the way home without anyone knowing! Korbyn was just sad to find that his stowaway hadn't lived to see it's new home.

In memory of that fateful event I found myself moved enough to create a poem in memory of the occasion and now, 5 years later, have decided it's time to share it with the rest of you (but actually, I just found it again for the first time in years so I figured I might as well pass it on).

And so, in memoriam:

Ode To a Toad:

"As a tadpole you lived in a humble abode,

Your life was just great as you grew to a toad.

A hotel lawn in Nebraska was once where you lived

Until one day you met a young Idaho kid.

He loved you so much to his home you were towed,

But died in his pillowcase where you'd been stowed."

RIP July 2015

 Onto a happier note...

   

Heather's family just got two new baby goats from Liz! They named them Sasparilla and Marigold!

   Heather and Brad's menagerie now includes:

 Alpacas, goats, a giant tortoise, a bunny, 3 dogs, and

 a bearded dragon!