new calling

Clyde and I have new stake callings @ church. To be honest, I cannot remember the official job title. However, it is kinda like activity specialists for the youth. Ok- it is that, not like that. Our first duty was to handle the decorations for the tri-stake New Year's Eve Eve dance that went down last night. After 3 nights of decorating, it looked like this...  

Yes, that is a vintage 1940's parachute filled with probably 500 balloons, mainly blown up by me. I never knew I had that much hot air in me!! We added twinkle lights to everything. We had sparkling stars and lights to the entire gym . We even rigged the parachute to drop the balloons out. Thank goodness we knew knots and that Clyde isn't too terribly afraid of heights.

The night was very successful, even though some kids were smoking in the men's bathroom. Who would do that in a church??
Happy New Year!

merry christmas!

the Master Graduate

We are so very proud of Clyde! He has worked so hard to earn his Master's degree. Nights, weekends, summers, vacations, any free time he's has been spent typing papers and doing research. Not only has he been working on his Master's but planning Washington DC field trips (by himself), coaching soccer, teaching 8th grade social studies, teaching  the YM on Sundays, father of 5, planning New years Eve Eve dance at church, and husband duties... Clyde you are amazing! love you!!

(There are more pictures on Facebook...it appears that I am running outta space on our blog, crazy no?)

wedding dress

 I was asked by a family at church, to help with their son's soon-to-be bride's wedding dress. I only had a week to do it. It started out like this...

 And ended like this...

All that lace had to be hand sewn on. It took 4 fittings to get it right. I had to take the sleeves out twice and rebuild the shoulders to make it fit.  Overall, it turned out nicely. I did such a happy dance once the bride left with her dress! It was hard work. I am so glad that Sis. D let me use her equipment and her know how to get the dress to fit right. She was amazing! So was my family as they ate cereal for dinner and lived with a crazy mom.

naked tree

First of all, I cannot believe that we are days away from Christmas. The past two weeks have been very busy here at the brown house. (Pictures will soon follow, to prove the busy-ness.) 

We actually bought a real Christmas tree this year. The last real tree we had was our first Christmas as a married couple, back in 1996. Clyde has a thing about real trees and cutting them down, because the tree dies. My theory is that they were planted to die. They also remind me of growing up and the smell of Christmas was the tree's scent in the air. I was more than thrilled when Clyde suggested that we get a live tree this year. It has been so incredibly busy that, we still haven't decorated our tree. We have a beautifully naked tree up in our livining room, as Jacob calls it. I am hoping to get our tree clothed this week.

jacob in the chair

Recently, we had our 6mo. dental check-ups for the 3 youngest wardlings. 2 of the 3 had to come back. One of the 3 had to have 3 visits worth of dental work done.

This is Penny after her 3rd visit. The day of the cleaning, her spacer was loose and so they took it off and with it, came a filling, so her filling was repaired that day. They decided to leave the spacer off for a few days. Then a couple of days later, a crown was placed over one of her top molars. Today, she had a filling, two baby root canals, 2 crowns, and they placed the spacer back in. She was less than happy about it. A few of the Wardlings, Penny being one of them, have soft, soft teeth. no matter how much we brush or floss, they still get cavities. All I have to say is, thank goodness for dental insurance!!