2010 favorites

as if our family isn't already pretentious enough, olive has really been getting into vinyl lp's this year. so far, she's focusing mostly on entry-level stuff she can reach on the bottom shelf, but she's developing quickly and seems to be showing interest in some of the more experimental stuff on the next shelf up. we're fairly confident that come next december she'll be rattling off her own year end list of jazz reissues or something else equally interesting. but until then, here's the two older brown's undoubtedly uninteresting and pretentious lists of year end musical favorites.
please use the comments as they were intended to be used; a place to share your political views or to advertise sweet deals on prescription medications or designer watches.
thanks,
-- m b, 2010

lindsay

kanye west - my beautiful dark twisted fantasy - (def jam)

mark mcguire - living with yourself - (editions mego)

beach house - teen dream - (sub pop)

lcd soundsystem - this is happening - (dfa)

the morning benders - echo - (rough trade)

vampire weekend - contra (XL)

girl talk - all day - (illegal art)

matthew

14 - dem hunger - caveman snack - (leaving)

13 - sohni chambers - yaw-mah-ha - (goaty)

12 - julian lynch - mare - (olde english spelling bee)

11 - magic lantern - platoon - (not not fun)

10 - roll the dice - roll the dice - (digitalis)

9 - woods - at echo lake - (woodsist)

8 - brother raven - vss-30 - (digitalis)

7 - jefre cantu-ledesma - love is a stream (type)

6 - beach house - teen dream - (sub pop)

5 - sean mccann - chances are staying - (dnt)

4 - mark mcguire - living with yourself - (editions mego) //&\\ tidings / amethyst waves - (weird forest)

3 - emeralds - does it look like i'm here? - (editions mego)

2 - kanye west - my beautiful dark twisted fantasy - (def jam)

1 - sun araw – on patrol - (not not fun) //&\\ off duty ep - (woodsist)

Thank you, thank you

Is it too late to air my thankfulness a week and a half after Thanksgiving? One of the MANY things I have learned from the words(more like poetry) of my gal Natalie Merchant is that any time of year is a good time to Thank you, thank you. Plus I wasn't the Gratit-Dude(photo's of me dressed as the grati-dude upon request only) at Girls Camp 2 years in a row just because I owned a tie-dyed shirt, I think my attitude of gratitude had something to do with it.

This has been one of the happiest times of my life and thus it is easy for me to think of the many things that I am grateful for. I am madly in love with all of the people in the above photo, my love for Matthew has been on Human Growth Hormones this year and is HUGE(like gorilla juice head huge) and I am thankful that he is my husband. however I am not thankful for his terrible attitude about family pictures. and I mean terrible.

I am sooo thankful that I am a mom. I am sooo thankful that I am no longer pregnant. I am thankful that Olive smiles for the camera.

I'm thankful that everything worked out for Uncle Jesse and that "Forever" hit #1 on the Japanese music charts.

bjorning all over the world

Olive loves her bjorn and we are loving this time in her life when she is incapable of "walking" by herself. We are trying to make the most of this beautiful weather and Olive's lack of free will by strapping her in the bjorn and hitting the road.

we went to the natural bridge in Payson a few weeks ago and believe me a good time was had by all.

me trying to figure out the mechanics of the hold out family photo. we got it.

a tarantula worthy of guest appearance in Home Alone.
"what are you doing Marv?"

For FHE we hiked 'A' mountain. It felt great to get back to my Sun Devil roots and to be a walking buzz kill to all the young lovers atop the mountain who had taken their ladies there to "talk" about life and stuff.

Olive is soooo cute in this picture I am tempted to go get her out of her crib right now and kiss her face off. I wont.

does wind have this effect on all babies? cause this little girl was losing her mind.

Halloween: Spooky Scary Edition

I always imagined motherhood to be filled with great afternoons making memories with your offspring and not as heavy on spit up, blow outs and bags under the eyes. Funny how one afternoon of good weather and good behavior makes the many other afternoons of being in my sweats until noon with dried poop in my arm hair seem like the exception and not the rule.

Can you believe we rode a bicycle all the way there with two babes and still look this good?

Olive making my heart sing in the pumpkin patch at Mother Nature's Farm.

Holidays are just more fun with babies, especially ones who can't voice an opinion on their halloween costume. Olive as a witch and Matthew and I just trying not to embarass ourselves for once at the family halloween party.

a smattering of hipps and brown cousins at the party.

I could photoshop out Olive's drool line(maybe) but I think she needs to live with the photographic evidence that she spent the first months of her life foaming at the mouth and wasn't embarassed about it in the slightest.

seriously. this babe turned 5 MONTHS OLD today. seriously.

bonus points to Olive for not trying to take her hat off once during the par-tay.

Ladies Only

The first week in October Ashley, Olive and I accompanied Adrianne and Lucia on a "work " trip to the East Coast. We spent 5 days in DC and did some time in Pennsylvania exploring all the Pennsylvania turnpike had to offer. Here is a picture of all us gals with the Delaware behind us, right Ashley?

Olive and Lucia enjoying crepes both sweet and savory at Eastern Market on Saturday morning. these ladies are learning young that binge eating is a key element to any girls trip.

Are you aware that the season they call "fall" is not a season in name only? True. there is actually a distinct weather change, even the foliage is in on it. Another tid bit for my native Arizonians, there is also a season called Spring.

A completely unstaged photo of me pushing the double stroller on the hill.

Adrianne, Olive and Lucia at the Botanical Gradens,obviously the bench and concrete gave away our location. Trips taken with out Matthew are SERIOUSLY lacking in photographic evidence.

Olive and I at the park enjoying the beautiful weather and the short time window in which it is acceptable for females to wear overalls.

Marianne and Ashley outside of DC Cupcakes.
are you noticing a theme here?

this picture serves as the only evidence that we went to Pittsburgh, it also serves as evidence that my inability to lose my baby weight may not be due to a faulty thyroid like I claim. There is not a single human that I love in this photo, no trace of Katie, Levi, Macy, Atticus, Adeline or even Daisy. Just an enormous half eaten sandwich from Primanti Brothers.

Olive in a food coma/love coma. Her first successful girls trip.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

When you are on a strict schedule of eating, sleeping, sleeping while you are supposed to be eating, and getting gassy and cranky every night around 8pm you do not have much time for socializing. This might explain why Olive and Ivy appear to be trying to punch each other in the armpit during some recent floor time bonding.

Olive has gotten really smiley and occasionally giggly in the last few weeks and has been kind enough to laugh at some of her Dad's jokes. somebody has to.

Don't let this pic fool you, she hates tummy time and in 3 seconds she is about to spit up and get really mad.

california dreaming

It's hard to feel patriotic when it's so hot outside you think you are experiencing organ failure each time you walk to your mailbox, so Matthew, the kid and I took a quick trip to the coast for the 4th.

olive's first beach experience will read rather boring since she spent the whole time face planted into Matthew's chest.

There's always money in the banana stand. We spent the 4th on balboa island enjoying the best frozen banana and balboa bar the island had to offer.

despite the puff sleeves and yellow bow everyone thought Olive was a dude. She was disapointed that no one could appreciate her attempt to look Cali-casual.

Here are my two babes enjoying a Santa Monica view while being burped to sleep. I was nervous about taking this act on the road but we had a great time and Olive slept almost the entire time. Riding in the car and stroller acted like baby cat nip for her.

When 2 becomes 3

Anyone who has had the mind numbing pleasure of watching NBA draft coverage every night knows the many intricacies involved in adding a new recruit to the team and the effect this has on overall team chemistry. We are happy to report that our newest recruit has blended seamlessly with the team. She is a dreamboat to take naps with (see above photo) and finally there is someone willing to hang out with Matthew while he plays video games. All around we think she will take our game to the next level and we are looking forward to an all star year.

Yawn

Happy One Week Old, Olive!
you are the most chillaxed baby ever.

olive days and olive nights

just to clear the air, the last two photos on the last post were not our baby. they were the result of a google image search for 'newborn asian baby'. it was a bad joke. but here are some more pictures of our real baby from the hospital and at home.

somehow the tv in the delivery room ended up on c-span while Olive was born. we think this choice in television programming was representative of what a boring and mellow baby she's been so far. not that we're complaining. we love our boring, mellow baby.

since she was an ASU girl in the womb she's been insisting we let her sunbathe in the window a few times a day.

today was our fourth wedding anniversary. i'm sure that next year we'll want to go out and enjoy just each other for a night while someone babysits her, but this year it felt really nice to hang out at home with our new gal and watch the celtics beat the lakers. here's hoping that on anniversary number five the Suns are still playing. know what i mean guys?
also, big thanks to all the friends, family, and strangers that have shown our family their love and support in the past few days.

olive amelia brown

she was born on June 7th at 11:51pm. 7 lb 14 oz. 20''. she is swollen but pretty sweet. she seems like a good child.