Febuaury

It's time to resurrect the blog and start recording our family history, it is the only genealogy work I am interested in doing. This counts as genealogy right? 

You have to start somewhere and it might as well be February, it's the shortest month of the year and it is also Black History month and Valentines Day. Although there is no mention of either holiday in our February recap I am going to forge ahead.

Matthew did have a birthday in February and we celebrated Southern Arizona style with a trip to Bisbee and surrounding areas.

TUCSON

We stopped in Tucson on our way to Bisbee and went to the San Xavier Del Bac mission it was neat I think but I was in a hot dog coma so I can't really say. The real pilgrimage was to the inspired El Guero Canelo sonoran dog stand. I love hot dogs and carbs and  free salsa bars that have pickled carrots and what I think are smoked green onions but I have no real idea. This place did not disappoint and I am unwilling to disclose how many of these oversized hot dogs we ate. not the best start to a romantic birthday weekend, but I have no regrets.

BISBEE

Bisbee is the perfect mix of charming and weird with some copper and mineral deposits mixed in, an existential delight. It's filled with art galleries and antique shops and crusty hippies with even crustier looking dogs.

Adorable right?

We took the scenic route home and headed west for Sierra Vista, along the way we made a few stops. Like to a charred hillside with an enormous angel and cross effigy. There were no plaques or information posted so I assume they just appeared there.

 of course we stopped in Beautiful Downtown Palaminas, and as advertised it WAS beautiful but we are still unclear as to where the downtown was.

It was a great trip and I have decided that the best birthday presents to give your spouse are ones that directly benefit you.

Matthew's Birthday

Matthew turned 30 in February and his long time friend Peter had the good sense to have a birthday in February as well so we had a par-tay.

We celebrated the birth of Matthew and Peter by having an amazing bbq in the Fords backyard. The meat man and co-birthday celebrator really pulled through and spent 15 hours smoking 13lbs of brisket to savory meat perfection. Lacy and I put our pinterest skillz to work and made a citrus salad, brussells sprouts, mac n cheese and bread pudding in mason jars. I like pinning recipes more than actually making them. But I like eating them most of all, unfortunately my food consumption prevented me from taking a single picture of the party and I had to steal all of these from Kayla's blog.

It was great to celebrate with good friends and even though Matthew failed to make good on his birthday promise and dunk a basketball from the the 3 point line, a good time was   had by all.

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Our Olive girl

Good news, Olive was just as great in February as she has been the prior 19 months of her existence. I have said this about every baby stage thus far but this time I mean it, THIS is my favorite age. She has all the personality (and teeth) of  a full grown woman, she is so mobile and independent and plays and gets dirty in the backyard just like a little kid but still has a few remaining baby traits like her chubby little baby hands,  sizable diaper booty, and occasional midnight feedings (not nearly as charming as the chubby hands). It's the perfect hybrid of baby/child.

She  loves to throw tantrums, but really who doesn't? Her tantrums consist of her lying face down on the ground/ carpet/ gas station floor/ gravel path and quietly cry. We have failed to parent/discipline this behavior due to how amusing we find it.

She loves to be helpful. sort of. But mostly she loves all of her cousins.

Based on her 20 month review we have decided to extend her contract for an additional 20 months as her parents.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

My baby girl is ONE years old! It has been a true pleasure hanging with this lady for the past year. She's funny, she's a good dresser, she loves quesadillas, she sings opposed to crying in the morning when she wants out of her crib, and she totally melts my heart in every possible way.
I LOVE YOU OLIVE!

Since Olive and Gabe have birthdays within 2 days of each other it seemed appropriate to throw a double party. It also seemed convenient and genius on the behalf of Olive's mom to partner with Gabe's mom in the planning and execution of a party, since we all know Adrianne is a craft-master and not at all lazy like yours truly. The end result was fantastic, and I have decided that I LOVE throwing parties, but really, I love throwing parties and then delegating lots of work to my family while still receiving all of the credit and praise.

Olive, I will party with you any day!

May first

If a tree falls in the woods but no one hears it does it make a sound? Likewise if we pass through life's milestones without broadcasting them on the internet for voyeurs and cyberfriends to witness do they even count? What I am trying to say is we have set up a 24 hour webcam to make sure not a single moment of our private lives fade into obscurity. The Brown's are going LIVE!

Until our live webcam stream is available here is a sampling of what the Kardashians have been up to. I mean Brown's.

Easter Sunday.

Day trip to Sedona with the Dangerfields(not pictured)

A quick trip to California sans baby. We really debated whether or not to take her cause we were afraid we would miss her too much. As it turns out that fear was purely hypothetical.

I guess this is growing up

Olive is a sicky so I have been stuck in the house with her all day giving her breathing treatments and watching Dirty Dancing on TV- watching this film as an adult I can not believe that I was allowed to watch this in my youth, I am equally shocked to find out this film was supposed to be set in the 60's not the 80's. I guess a shirtless P. Swayze transcends all decades and parental censorship.

here is a shirtless Olive reading a book with her dad at the doctor.

Here is a shirtless and screaming Olive getting a breathing treatment at the doctor. Must learn matthew's secret for never being the one holding the traumatized child at the doctor's.

looks like girlfriend partied too hard at da club the night before.

Can you believe this? Is my baby growing at an alarming rate or have I just become another sad cliched adult always jabbering about how kids grow up too fast ?

London's Run

Do two half marathons (2 years apart) equal a full marathon? Me thinks yes. In that case, my gals and I ran a marathon this weekend! Running is often billed as an individual sport, but how people train and run distances greater than ten miles all by their lonesome is beyond me. This is evident by my unsolicited "coaching" and encouragement of any and all lone runners I passed on the course (believe me this number is small). My training for this half marathon was spotty and I wouldn't have finished had it not been for an excellently crafted playlist--heavy on Kanye--and also the support of these two ladies. Thank you Shanna and Shelly, and allow me to apologize for my complaining and the strange noises I made along the course. oh and Thank you Mr. West for the sweet tunes. And lest I forget the high fives and cheering from the Queen Creek HS football team. You made me feel like the head cheerleader even though I was crying and there was snot on my face. Thank you.

Pre race dinner complete with dessert, a trip to Walmart, more dessert, and skimming the pages of Lucky looking for new hair cuts. Can you tell I am really into the photo collage? especially since it minimizes the not so flattering post race photos of me.

Sedona 1/2 Marathon or what I now refer to as the first leg of the Marathon I ran.

The red rock vistas of the Sedona course were slightly more scenic than the dirt field complete with tractors blowing dust in your face that comprised the Queen Creek course.

The medals were a nice touch also.

...and this, well I just couldn't help myself.