The Brower Bunch

Last night for Family Home Evening, we watched "Emma Smith: My Story" My testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was strengthened even more last night. As I watched, I could not help the overwhelming feeling of gratitude that rushed through me for Joseph and Emma Smith. I have seen many movies or read the things that Joseph had gone through, but for the first time, last night, I really saw what Emma had to endure. I had never looked at it from her point of view as a wife and mother . Maybe it hit me so strongly because I am a wife and mother. This amazing woman never lost her faith in the Lord. Yes, at times she was frustrated, or discouraged, but she is human. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose baby after baby, or to not have the approval of her father, or to help clean up her husband after he had been tarred and feathered. She truly did shed many, many tears. I don't know if she realized how important her legacy would be. She was the wife of the P...

Kaden had spaghetti all by himself the other night. As you can see, he dug right in and loved it. He even sucked the noodle in! All done! I just love his smile.

A Doctor or Vet? We got Kennedi a "nurses/doctor" set for her birthday. She loves it. As you can see, she is giving her Kitty a shot. An Artist? The past couple of weeks, she has been amazing me with her drawings. I didn't even know that she could actually draw objects. Up until now, it has just been crazy lines, or circles. The other day, she came to me and showed me this picture of a face that she drew. And, the one below she drew a couple nights ago and showed Jerrod. She said, "Daddy, look at my elephant!" He was amazed as well. I am so glad that he took a photo of it. I am pretty impressed by her artistic abilities. Probably because if I drew an elephant it wouldn't even come close to her picture! Best of All: A Mommy. Notice how I didn't put a question mark on that one. I know she will be a Mommy someday. It is so fun to see her little mothering instincts at this age. The other night, she wanted to help Kaden eat his mashed potatoe...

November is National Adoption Awareness Month. And, now that most of you are aware of my story, I feel it appropriate to give my shout to Adoption Awareness this month. If you are wondering what the heck I am talking about, click HERE FOR MY STORY. (be ready to read a lot!) As you know, for the past seven (almost eight!) years, adoption has been a HUGE part of my life. It has amazed me to see how much the Lord really does have a plan for all of us . We all have trials and we all have pain that we must go through. Some of it is brought about by our own choices, (like me) and for others, it is just a part of the plan that Heavenly Father has in store for them. I think the thing that amazed me the most was how Heavenly Father is able to bring these two things together and turn them into something so wonderful. This past month, I have been able to reflect a lot about adoption. It is a wonderful gift, not only for the parents who receive a baby, but also for that birth-mom who ju...

For Kennedi's 3rd birthday, we celebrated like royalty! Okay, maybe not really royalty, but we did have a pretty cute Princess party. As you can tell from Halloween, Kennedi LOVES princess stuff right now. So, naturally, we decided to have a princess theme birthday. She wore her Halloween costume and we invited the other princes and princess' to come dressed up as well. My mom came to help celebrate. My kids are so lucky to have the greatest Grandma ever. She did not want to miss her party! This picture is so funny to me because when I was taking photos of her, she just started posing. She is a natural. Kaden was the Prince Charming on the horse! I wanted to make Kennedi a princess cake, but she insisted that I make the "Little Mermaid" cake instead. It was so fun to make. I love making cakes for my kids' birthdays! Riley and Kennedi playing. We ate a "world-famous cuisine from the Neapolitan era" -- meaning PIZZA! The girls decorated crowns. P...

Last night we had steak for dinner. Jerrod told Kennedi to eat her steak and she replied with, "I am. It's in my mouth." We were pleased that she had tried the steak. A little while later, we noticed that she hadn't eaten anymore steak, so Jerrod asked her to eat some more. She then replied with, "No, I don't like it. It won't stop." I died laughing because I knew exactly what she meant. Because we won't feed her medium cooked steak, her piece was pretty well done. She didn't like that it took forever to chew! It wouldn't "stop" for her to be able to swallow it! I thought it was so funny. Now that she is three, I think that there will be a lot more posts like this. Her little mind is so funny and creative and she says the greatest things.

This October I stressed out about trying to come up with Halloween costumes that could top our costumes last year: My Problem: This year I officially lost control over what Kennedi was going to be. I realized this early in the month when she kept saying that she wanted to be a princess. I tried to convince her to be something else that might create some sort of ensemble for the whole family, but she wouldn't back down. I then realized that I wouldn't be a mother who wouldn't let her be a princess if that is what she really wanted to be. That is what the fun of Halloween is all about. So, there she is as a BEAUTIFUL princess. We bought her an actual dress-up outfit so that she could wear it all year round. She loves it. I then was thinking that maybe I could make Kaden a prince or something to match Kennedi's costume, but I could come up with nothing. So, one night while I was out with my girlfriends, Jerrod took the kids to find Kaden a Halloween costume. ...