Before the trip but this is from October 4th - The Premiere of Season 3 for guess which show!?



Dinner at Benihana's for my birthday


After the concert with my butterfly confetti


After the concert with Matthew


Re-enacting Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in the Imperial sand dunes



Re-enacting a Lost picture in the sand dunes


Adventure in the dunes! 3MChanklas to the rescue!

"The most important thing she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."
Jill Churchill

Well I guess Andrew has found his thumb or should I say thumbs. He is now beginning to suck his right thumb which really consists of 2 thumbs. Peter isn't all to happy about it but he can't really do much to stop it when I won't. We went to his 2 month appoinment last monday and he is 24 1/4 inches long (90th percentile) and 13 pounds (75th percentile). He is a growing boy and wasn't too happy to have to get shots. We had a rough evening after the shots but all is well now and he is back to his happy smiling self except that he has started to whine and cry if Peter and I just walk away to like the kitchen or somewhere else in the house and leave him on the couch. Oh well, I still love the little booger. Well he is yelping for me to come get him from bed. We love you all!

Love, Anne

I would like to thank you for that really demented video. It was disturbing and of course Sadie loved it. Also, the voices get stuck in my head, so yesterday during Sacrament meeting, yes sacrament meeting, Sadie hands me one of her my little ponies and asks me to play with her and I HAVE TO lean over and whisper to Mike and Sadie, "Come on Charlie." It just couldn't be held inside.

Adina, Sadie is obsessed with death as well. But she has a different take. First of all I have to assure her frequently that I am not going to die- hopefully I'll just get twinkled so I'm not a liar, next that she is not going to die. I've tried explaining that it won't happen till we are really old etc... but that isn't satisfactory. The next part of her obsession is things in her food that she is worried will kill her. Today at lunch for example she tore apart her entire cheese tortilla to look inside the cheese to make sure nothing would kill her. She also wanted me to take off all the toasted brown parts on her tortillas and asked if the nuts-her word not mine, the peel, the white stuff inside the orange was going to kill her. YES!!!

So I posted a novel last week on my family blog and was going to transfer it over but the blogger site was not connecting. I know some of you read that as well but I thought I would post it over here too. Sorry, it's a novel.


So a bit of a rundown as to what we have been up to. This past weekend was a four day weekend for Mike and Jane so Friday morning we woke the girls up at 6, dressed the little ones in their Sleeping Beauty dresses and Jane in a church dress, loaded them into the beamer and drove down to Neuschwanstein castle aka Disney's inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. The castle is built right into the foot of the Alps. It wasn't too crowded, I guess during the summer there is a three hour wait but we only waited long enough to get in some great pics. We were going to take the carriage ride to the top of the hill (where the castle is) but that was a bit of a wait so we just started walking. It was hillarious though because all the Japanese tourists were just oooing and aahhing over the girls, especially Sadie. She had those blond curls and a little bow in her hair and was skipping along happily and they just died. We even had one guy ask to take a picture with her. Too funny. So after touring the castle we went over to this little park we had seen on the drive in. It had a playground and a gondola that went to the very top and an alpine slide. So the girls changed clothes and took rides on the alpine slides in the Alps. A bit surreal. Definitely a wonderful day. Saturday we just hung out at home, made lots of good food and played games. Sunday my friend and her three girls came over for dinner while her husband was in Poland with his parents. Monday we went to a very cool swimming pool complex in Amberg, about 20 minutes away. It has about seven different pools with varying degrees of warmth, a little kiddie area, a water slide, and a pool that went outside as well as in (with plastic flap curtains) that stays open even in the winter. We had so much fun and we didn't even see any naked body parts that should be covered. I guess during the summer there's a better chance of that, I can't wait. Sooo... before we went to the pool we went to a kid's store and bought a new stroller. Germany is not really made for double joggers and the umbrella stroller is like hell on wheels, literally. So after taking that up to the castle for a day and going up waaay steep hills with wheels going askew and the handles reaching all the way to our thighs we made a new stroller a first priority. So we got one that is a very narrow, big wheeled (not jogging stroller size) stroller and then we are going to order what is called a buggy board for Sadie. It attaches to the rear of the stroller and your child can stand there when they are too tired to walk any more. Sade is just at that in between stage and a day of walking around poops her out and carrying her poops us out. The board will cost more than the stroller, but it should be worth it.

So there you have it. The rest of the week I have been trying to catch up on laundry and housework. Mike and I play a board game every night and most of the time I kick his booty. Pretty fun. Tonight we are watching the Season Premiere of Battle Star Galactica and we are sooo excited. We are total nerds.

There it is. Hope you are all doing well. love, Brooke

So you guys will probably think this is weird and that I am weird because I think it is HILARIOUS...but you have to give it a chance. Just watch it and you will think it is stupid and then you will have the voices in your head for the next couple days...then you will watch it again and appreciate it's hilarity. I had to show it to you guys. :)

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes! It was a really fun one and I feel very loved to get a wish from all of you!

The trip to Phoenix was quick but fun. There is a whole lotta desert out there but it was really pretty, especially on the way back around sunset. We drove out on Tuesday morning then had dinner, concert, sleep, breakfast, and drove back. The Mariah Carey concert was super fun. We had awesome seats...5th row center! So close! I could have touched her if I wanted to. She has an amazing voice and, as I said to Matthew, it is even more amazing that she can sing like that while wearing so little clothing, I mean come on, there are a lot of muscles a-movin' when you sing like that...I sure wouldn't be comfortable.

On our drive we had to stop at customs and be checked by the Border Patrol about 3 times. It was funny because the first time they stopped us me and Matthew didn't know what they were asking about when they just said "Citizenship?"...I thought maybe he wanted to see something that proved I was a citizen and Matthew was getting his ID when Michelle just yelled from the back seat "We're American!" That gave us about an hours worth of make-jokes-off-of-that entertainment.

Now I am back to real life. I got a much needed night off yesterday so I could watch my shows. I really love Grey's Anatomy...very good. Lost was awesome this week. I got to watch it at Michelle's sister Aimee's condo and she has HDTV. It is SO much better in HD...so if you have to capabilities to watch it that way you should. I guess there was something in the episode that was clear to me but no one else that I have talked to. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it so if you are curious you will just have to contact me otherwise.

I really should get some work done now. Just wanted to report. Oh and as the title indicates, pictures are coming from the birthday - Matthew has them on his camera.

Just to get off the negative blogging, today is Friday the 13th and......well, it's going to be a good day. Jenell, Sue and Craig are flying up today to see Gramma Esther. They arrive this afternoon and will stay for a few days. The other side of that coin is that mom and I are leaving tomorrow for Sacramento for my 40th high school reunion. That is Saturday evening. Sunday, we will be in Lafayette for their stake conference at the Oakland Temple site. Carol and Pepi will be singing in the service choir. Mom and I plan to attend and stay the night with them. Russel Nelson is the scheduled speaker. We come home on Monday and get back into our usual week. Then, that next weekend is Cirque de Solei Delirium. We've heard good things about it. This will be our first Cirque. So, I'm off to work, just thought I'd upturn this blog and get a brighter picture going. Dad

For those of you who remember Jason Fry when we lived in Bremerton and San Diego, he was on his mission to Durban (sp), South Africa and was on his P-day yesterday with other missionaries. He apparently attempted to jump across a 7 ft. crevice or some open obstacle, mis-judged the distance or overshot his intended landing area and fell over a cliff to his death. I have only bits and pieces of info gleaned from Sis Ellsworth, Kim and Sis Leavitt. Kim will probably know more about it than I but thought you might remember the Paul Fry family, now residing in Silverdale, WA,.in your prayers.

Dad

Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Birthday little sis. Hope that is happy enough for ya. Can't wait for you to move up here. Mom and Dad have a room open in March. Happy 25th again.

Love Brent and Buffy

Al-Mormon

Peter really wanted me to blog this....hope you guys like it! - Anne

Just wanted to say happy birthday, marnie! hope you are having a great one!! even if you do have to work. I was at blockbuster the other day and milo and otis was on. made me think of you!

Kimberly

Hey Marnie,

Happy birthday! I can't believe you are a quarter of a century old now. That means I am next. Anyways, Hope you have a good time rockin away to Mariah Carey. I just wanted you to know that you are such a great person and even though we live far apart, I have always and will always look up to you. I love you dude and hope I can kick your butt in fafarazzi this time around, I am tired of ending up in 4th place. Anyways, have a good day and Peter and Andrew send their love and happy birthdays your way also.

Love,
Anne

Wow - I can still see you as a little girl, pounding on the piano or sneaking her way into pictures being taken, or handcuffed to a chair! We love you and hope you have a great and safe time at the concert - and wish you the best on your birthday!
Love, Dave, Adina, Isaac, Taylor, Parker & Morgan

I hope you have a great trip to Arizona today...and a great concert! We really enjoyed the time with you last week and our birthday dinner at Outback. Next time we are down that way we'll have to make reservations early at Benihana and do that...

I am so glad you joined our family 25 years ago. How thrilled we all were to have our first little girl!

We all love you!

Mom

Well Marnie, here's to a quarter century and good times, We hope you have a great birthday that apparently will be full of beautiful 70 degree weather. Enjoy. Tom, Tracey, and Hayden and Danica.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Marnie, happy birthday to you. We all hope you have a wonderful day. We miss you and I think that for your next birthday you should come here. It's beautiful and all the tourists are gone. I'll plant that seed now.

Love, Brooke, Mike, and three beautiful girls

Well I thought I would title this blog with a lyric from a rap song some dude wrote that is constantly playing on our radio here. It is a real rap song not one of those parody songs. Anyways, things are going well here in Idaho. Andrew is growing bigger by the day. He goes in for his 2 month check up tomorrow even though he is 2 1/2 months old. We are getting them done now because we didn't want a crabby baby on our trip to Newport Beach if he reacted badly to them. It being a mom and I love it more with every smile that I get out of him.

Peter and I are doing well also, just working and school and coaching. High School volleyball ends this week so I will have a 2 week break before club tryouts start and then practices start in December. We don't quite know when we will be home for christmas but expect us there for a week. I can't wait to see you all and for you all to see our big boy.

Well he is whining as he has been the last couple of days and I need to give him some attention. Oh yeah and we realized that something about In-N-Out he does not like and the days after having it he was being a real pill. Kinda sucks to know that but it would suck even more if we lived near an In-N-Out. Love you all!

Love, Anne