The Brown Family...

The eye of the hurricane...

2010-05-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

Well the title says it all. We are in the eye of the hurricane right now. We are in Santa Maria for a few days prior to moving back to Rocklin. We are getting ready for Bailey's 5th birthday bash tomorrow. I can't believe she is 5, that’s so crazy. All of our worldly possessions are in the moving trailer sitting in a warehouse in Sacramento. Our home is not ready for us just yet so we will be living out of a hotel for a couple of weeks. My new job starts on Tuesday. We are trying to put new hardwood floors, carpeting, and paint into our house. We meet with the flooring people on Monday and are very excited. We have a lot going on in our lives right now, but it is all good. God is so good and always takes care of us. It was sad to say goodbye to our neighbors. We were so blessed with the neighborhood. Valencia was good to us and now we are excited to begin yet another chapter in our lives.

Fun, fun, fun...

2010-05-14T16:59:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I last posted, I am trying to remember the order of events in which our life transpired.

Grandma and Papa Anaya came into town for Easter. We had a great time visiting and Papa went on a ride-a-long for the first time with me. It was so nice to be forced to sit in a car for 10 hours with each other, as funny as it sounds. It gave us a great opportunity to finally talk without the interruptions.

Leslie and I attended our college friend, Stephanie Hillon's, wedding to Adrian Kearns. The wedding was in downtown Los Angeles so Leslie and I decided to make a weekend of it. We traveled down on a Saturday. We stayed at the Downtown Marriott (this is a picture is from our hotel room) and were amazed at the big city. It is funny we live so close yet have never really been downtown like that. We had a nice dinner and saw the movie Date Night, which we both loved (I know, I know, I'll turn in my man card). The wedding was a blast. We were able to reunite with many old college friends and we were so very happy we were invited. The bride and groom were beaming!

The Richardsons (with the exception of Matt, who was at school) came to visit. We had a great time hanging out. We went to a discovery museum where we saw the Bubble Show. It was really cool; it was like stepping into an interactive bubble world. We were dazzled by spellbinding lasers, spectacular lighting effects, and jaw-dropping masterpieces of bubble artistry. It made us all smile, laugh, and feel like a kid all over again! The Bubble Show has been featured on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, “The David Letterman Show”, “LIVE! with Regis and Kelly”, “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”, “Fox & Friends”, “The View”, “CBS Sunday Morning”, “The Today Show”, FOX, NBC, ABC, CW11 as well as television stations all around the world. (okay, so I copy and pasted some of that from the website, lol)

Leslie and I have had a long standing tradition of date night. We may go to the movies, go to a book store (I know what you are thinking....Mike in a bookstore? I hear ya, I usually go the Photoshop isle and get lost in those "how to" books for hours). Recently we went to a place called Mountasia. There is one of these types of centers in most towns. They have mini-golf, batting cages, bumper boats, games, etc. We had a blast! I hit up the batting cages (pun intended) first, then we played arcade games. I highly recommend taking your spouse once in a great while, it will take you back. This is a picture of Leslie posing after I beat her at air hockey! She said it looks like she won because she is happy! LOL! (I will say being married to your best friend is really fun!)

We watch American Idol, although this season we have lost interest. As you all know, in the beginning of American Idol the goal is to go to Hollywood. Since we watch this show as a family, Bailey is constantly asking to go to Hollywood. We made her dream come true a couple of weeks ago. We had a really good time. We walked the stars on the sidewalk, ate at an amazing breakfast place called The Griddle, and even saw Jerry Springer as he was getting on an elevator. Though Hollywood wasn't what Bailey thought it was, we had a lot of fun!

This is a picture outside of the Wax Meuseum:

This is the breakfast I ordered at The Griddle (I'm pretty sure it accounted for my weeks worth of fat):

I'm sure you have all heard Leslie's sister Christin is getting married. So, as you can all imagine, Leslie is in wedding/shower planning mode as she is the Maid of Honor. Not to mention we are moving in less than two weeks. Needless to say things are a bit hectic around here. We are so excited for our move back to the place we will now call home.

Time for an update...

2010-04-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a long time. I have started to receive hate mail for my lack of attention to our family blog! LOL! It has been a busy couple of months. The highlight, of course, was our vacation. I had the opportunity to have an extended amount of time off. We packed our schedule with activities.

We started with camping at Pismo Coast Village. The trip was originally planned for the four of us then spread to include the whole Anaya clan (with the exception of Aaron and Sara's family). We had a blast! We played basketball, baseball, and took bike rides everyday. We ate at Mo's, Splash, and a great breakfast place called Penny's All America Cafe. It rained about a day and a half worth of the trip but, other than that, it was awesome! It was so relaxing and Leslie and I got soooo much (very needed) sleep. My parents (the Browns) came up one night. The four of us along with my parents, and Ernie and Lori all went to dinner one night and we had a great time! The girls had so much fun playing with their cousisns, Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents, there was never a dull moment! After camping in a trailer for a week we are hoping to get one in the near future. It was one of our favorite vacations and are looking forward to many weekends spent being outdoors with the kiddos!

After the camping trip we returned to our home. The following week we went to Disneyland! It was so much fun. Nothing is better than taking your family to the "happiest place on earth". Bailey and Sydney loved all the characters. They took pictures with as many characters as possible. Bailey's favorite was the princesses.She was amazed at how beautiful their dresses were and kept saying "those were real princesses." Sydney loved Chip and Dale and kept spotting Goofy all over the park. Our daredevil Bailey went on Thunder Mountain and Tower of Terror. She was very brave with her Daddy. Sydney loved Buzz Lightyear and Its A Small World. We stayed at the Annabella Hotel across the street from Disneyland. It was perfect. We were able to walk into the park everyday.

After Disneyland, Leslie and the kiddos went to Santa Maria and my Dad and I went to Florida. We went to two of the Universal Studio's parks as well as Disney's Epcot. We had a great time! It was really fun having the opportunity to bond with my Dad. We were able to relax and have a very good time. Though I will say, he ran me into the ground... he is hard to keep up with! It is really fun going on a vacation with a big kid!

In March I interviewed for a new position up north. The whole family went up and was able to hang out with our friends while I went in for the interview. We are happy to announce I got the job and will be starting up there around June. We are looking forward to get back to a place we will now forever call home. We are excited to continue on our adventure and if all goes as planned the Brown family will no longer be touring the Golden State!

Rain!!!!

2010-01-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

This week brought a flurry of rain storms to California. Luckily, I only worked the first night of the rain storms. I was scheduled to have two days off, work a training day, and have two more days off. With the heavy rain, my training day was canceled. The result: five days off in a row!!!! Last night Leslie and I went on a date night. It was so much fun. We went to BJ's Brewhouse and had an amazing meal. After that we went to the movies and saw ‘It's Complicated’. I was a bit skeptical at first however; it turned out to be a very entertaining movie. We laughed throughout the film. I highly recommend it. Today we are just hanging around the house. The girls are having a great time!!! This was a much needed break for both my pregnant wife and me. WHAT!?!?!?! That’s right folks, if you didn't know it yet, you know it now! Leslie is pregnant again! Keep her in your prayers. Timing is everything! I am so glad I had this week off!!!!

Cousins come visit...

2010-01-15T07:26:00.000-08:00

Aunt Kristy, Lily, and Cole came to visit on the 5th. The girls had a blast! They love playing with their cousins and they get along together very well. They love to play house. The house was crazy with kids running all over the place. We played football, hide and seek, and tag. The moms did a great job keeping the kiddos entertained; I was more along for the ride. We hope they come back soon!

Sydney is getting so big...

2010-01-15T07:17:00.000-08:00

Sydney is now becoming a big girl! In the past few weeks she has begun speaking more, including her favorite phrase, "No way!" She had started to go potty on the potty and she moved from the crib to a big girl bunk-bed. I love watching the girls grow. She loves to terrorize her sister however, they love playing together. Being a parent seems to get better as the kids age. At least for now, I doubt I will think that when they are teenagers!!!

The BIG 29!

2010-01-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

Today is Leslie's birthday!!! Those of you who know my wife know she LOVES birthdays. She loves celebrating birthdays whether it’s her own or someone else’s. Last night we had our family birthday celebration complete with shrimp kabobs topped off with a home-made ice cream cake made with love by Bailey and me (with a little assistance from the birthday girl herself!).

Tonight my sister (Kristy), Leslie, and I are all going to Lazy Dog Cafe! I will start the evening off with some homemade martinis. We will drive to the cafe and have a nice, relaxing dinner... kid free!!!! We are all very excited. On more year of our twenties.....

Hard at work...

2009-12-12T08:30:00.000-08:00

Leslie has been hard at work making Christmas boxes for my co-workers and neighbors. She baked close to 1,500 cookies and put together over 120 containers of tasty treats. Each box consisted of mint chocolate cookies, peanut butter cup cookies, raspberry shortbread cookies, and chocolate covered pretzels. When you get a gift box from the Browns you get gourmet cookies! I gave one to every single employee at my office and all our neighbor friends and Bailey's teachers. It took her a good 15 hours to complete the project. What an amazing woman!

Settled in...

2009-12-11T18:19:00.000-08:00

Quite a few things have happened since I last posted. Sydney turned 2, I turned 29, and Leslie has a month left of being 28. We are at the point where we are all settled in now. It takes a good six months to get settled into a new city. We have now established a routine. We finally cleaned out the garage that stored the stuff from 500 less square feet, one less bedroom, and a quarter of the yard size. It only took us 8 hours to do!!! We found a really good babysitter, a great gym, and know are way around the city. Bailey is in a great preschool program, though it is not a Christian school, we really like the teachers and her main teacher is a kind hearted Christian woman. Bailey is having a great time at the school. Sydney continues to grow and loves playing with her big sister. Now that the holidays are here and the rain is falling our family is establishing our own traditions. We got our tree, our house has lights hanging, and the presents have been purchased. We are right on track to celebrate Christmas. I was very fortunate to have Christmas off (for the most part). I have days off from the 17th to the 24th. Not to shabby, considering those are all regular days off and using no vacation days. I work graveyard on the day of Christmas, which is a blessing. It allows us to spend Christmas as a family.

Our new assignment has brought its challenges. Finding new (scratch that) additional friends, a new routine, a way around a new city, and a new preschool for Bailey has defiantly been a challenge. However, our family has been truly blessed with this assignment. I could not have promoted into a better office.

Even though Thanksgiving has passed, in our house we are still giving thanks for the wonderful blessings the Lord has given us. In this Christmas season don't forget why we are celebrating... He's the reason for the season!!! Merry Christmas and God Bless you all...

Update

2009-10-18T15:09:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been quite a while since I last posted. It is harder than I thought to keep up on this. We have been on the go a lot lately. From three weeks in Sacramento to a week long cruise. It seems we are always on the go. Hopefully things will start to calm down over the next few months.

We went up to Sacramento for three weeks for training. We had a blast seeing all our old friends/neighbors. We were able to hang out with almost all of our old friends. It was a very fun time. We also just got back from a cruise. We went to Catalina and Ensenada. We had been on a similar cruise twice before using Royal Carribian Cruise Lines. This time we went on Carnival Cruise Lines. We liked Royal ship much better but, we had a great time with our friends Jim and Lesley. We rented Segways while visitng Catalina. It was a blast. The table we sat at for dinner on the ship was great. We got along with everyone at the table and one of the couples created a facebook page for the table. One night we all went Karaoking and made fools of ourselves (or at least Jim and I did). We saw and did some crazy things as well, including:

A woman getting run over by her own Segway
A woman slip and fall in the spa area (she ended up with stitches)
A woman fall right out of her shoes next to the bar
A boy fall down stairs as Leslie was telling our table about the three stories I just described
Jim almost got in a fight with a man who flicked his back
I competed in the talent show by singing Baby Got Back
Leslie competed in a slot tournament
Leslie and I won $60 playing blackjack

We had a great time. We missed our girls though. They stayed with Leslie’s parents, my parents, and Aunt Christin. We were excited to get back and see them. Bailey continues to play soccer (when we are in town) and she loves it. She just expressed interest in ballet. Sydney is talking a lot more. It is fun to listen to her.

Leslie went on a ride-a-long with me the night before we left for the cruise. It was a blast. We dropped the hammer and she hung in there until 5 in the morning!!!! Best day of work ever!

I’ll try not to take so long for my next post…. Until next time……

My baby who had no name...

2009-09-07T11:45:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, my wife and I lost our baby during pregnancy this last weekend. As a man, I always looked at miscarriages from a logical perspective. It was for the best, who knows what problems the baby would have had, its natural, etc. That was my outlook on the subject until I went through it.

A woman’s sole purpose when she is pregnant is to keep that baby alive. That is how they are programmed. So when you lose a baby as a woman I understand the sorrow that they must feel. What I didn’t know is how hard it would be for me. It doesn’t sound logical, but I truly miss the baby I never knew. Was it going to be my son, or perhaps another daughter? Would the baby look more like Bailey or more like Sydney? What personality would he/she mirror? These are all things I find myself asking.

We know that God is the author and taker of life. I also know that there is a reason we lost the baby and yes, that does give me comfort. My heart hurts for the child I lost and the pain, both emotionally and physically, I saw my wife go through. This experience has brought us even closer together and made us thankful for what we have. The outpouring of support from our family, friends, and co-workers has been a true blessing. Thank you for all your prayers.

We, of course, had already thought about names for the baby. I asked my self if we should name our third child. I came to the conclusion that the baby does not need a name. It was not meant to have a name. Leslie and I believe life begins at conception. With that knowledge comes both comfort and sadness. We know our baby is in heaven. We know the Lord has taken him/her for a reason. To our baby who had no name….we miss you and love you.

Love,

Your mom and dad

2009-09-06T17:17:00.000-07:00

5 day get-a-way!!!

2009-09-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

For the last 5 days we were at Carlsbad! It was an amazing time with my girls. We went to the beach, ate great food (see thought spot), and swam in the pool to name a few things. On the first day we walked down to Carlsbad Village and went swimming at the hotel pool. We stayed at the Hilton Homewood Suites. It was very pleasant. The hotel was new and offered free (I mean included) breakfast and dinner. The second day we went to the beach and a local outlet mall. At the beach, Bailey and Sydney loved playing in the water as the waves crashed onto the shore. We built sand castles and played chase in the sand. The third day we went swimming in the hotel pool and drove to eat lunch in La Jolla. After that we drove to San Diego’s Seaport Village where we walked around, rode the carousel, and met with one of our good friends Jeff Damshen for ice cream at Ben and Jerry's. After that we purchased the iPhone for both Leslie and me in Carlsbad. Today we woke up and came home. We had an amazing time....oh yeah, and after we purchased the iPhones in the mall Bailey rode the Euro Bungy! It was a blast....yay for 12 hour shifts!!!!

Soccer!!!!

2009-09-02T18:56:00.000-07:00

Bailey started soccer this last week. It was a fun practice! She did very well and her dad (who knows absolutely nothing about soccer) is assistant coach! She got stung by a bee, cried for a couple seconds, and was right back in there taking control of the ball!!! It is fun to see her start to play organized sports. We will keep you posted as her career progresses......

Okay, okay....

2009-09-02T18:53:00.000-07:00

I am making a commitment to blog once a week giving updates of the family. We recently learned that you can order a printed, binded version of your blog that will act as a yearbook for your family...pretty cool. I am going to do my best! I have some catching up to do!!!!

They grow up so quick...

2009-08-09T15:46:00.001-07:00

Beach day...

2009-08-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

On Friday we were pleasantly surprised when Christin came to visit. Leslie and the girls had a great time with their Auntie, while I was at work. On Saturday we decided to go to the Ventura beach for the day. We had a great time. The girls played in the water for a bit before playing on a playground with swings!!! After the beach we went to Joe's Crab Shack right of US-101. It was nice to escape the heat! It seems we have had family come visit every weekend. We love it! It is so nice being so close to SM. Today we went to church and are just lounging around the house...we'll see what tomorrow brings!

If you haven't heard by now...

2009-08-04T20:05:00.001-07:00

Sydney is going to be a new big sister!!! Baby number three is on his/her way, or maybe their way...we will see!

Bailey the swimmer...

2009-08-04T19:58:00.000-07:00

So last summer Bailey was deathly afraid of the water. This summer she loves the water! We have a pool within walking distance of our house. We have been going about 3 to 5 times a week. Bailey is also in swim lessons at the local YMCA. Within the last couple days she has really progressed. She can swim from the side to the middle of the pool, taking breaths in the middle of the swim and all. I'm hoping she will be the next Michael Phelps but we will see...

Dad's Birthday

2009-08-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

For my dads birthday this year I wanted to do something with him. I originally thought about taking him to a Dodger game but neither of us are into MLB that much. So I ended up taking him to the Ronald Regan Library. Sounds cheesy right? Actually, it's really cool. They have Air Force One (on loan from the US Air Force) that we got to tour. They also have an exact replica of the Oval Office.

We started off the day by going to the library/museum. After that we ate lunch at the Elephant Bar. We topped off the day with a trip to Krispy Kreme! We had a great time and I think I found a new tradition for my dads birthday gift!

The Richardsons Visit

2009-08-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

Kristy, Lily, and Cole came down to visit the last few days. We had a blast! We hit the pool, mall, and had a lot of Leslie's great home cookin! The kids had a great time and we look forward to their return in two weeks, this time with Matt!!!