Colin...AZ to AFRICA!

I have had two months to contemplate writing this

post. But tonight, I'm going to do it. This subject is 

very tender to me... You see, this is my "Fuz",

or better known as my baby brother Colin Jay. 

This is a recent picture of the two of us from last Fall.

Colin and I have a very special bond. He is one

person in my life who has always loved me totally

and completely unconditionally. He has been there

for me when others have not. We are literally the

 "call at 2 am" siblings, many times- each of us. Colin is one of 

the best men I have ever known in my life. We have always 

been close. Some of my fondest memories are going

in to get his little fuzzy head out of his crib in the 

morning :) Hence his nickname "Fuz". 

This is one of Colin's missionary pictures (courtesy

of the lovely Victoria Sorenson )!!! He has 

chosen to go on a mission for the LDS church. He

was called to serve in the Maputo, Mozambique

mission in AFRICA. This was was dream for Colin

since he was a young kiddo. He always wanted to go

there, and it was so unique for him to get called there 

since that is unheard of to go to the number one place

in the whole world that you want to go. He has since 

learned that he will serving his mission in Luanda, Angola.

This is in his designated mission, but is actually on the 

opposite side of Africa. He is SOOOO excited! 

I give you... Elder Colin Jay Montgomery

Here is the hard part... He has been gone in Utah for the

last two months learning Portuguese, which he will be speaking

in Africa. BUT, this Monday he starts what will be a 48 hour

trip to Luanda. Salt Lake to Dallas, Dallas to London, 

London to Johannesburg-South Africa, then finally on 

to Luanda-Angola. 

This is my last picture with him for two whole years. Can you 

tell how hard it was to smile? We'd been bawling our eyes

out about 3 minutes before this picture. 

We only get to e-mail with Colin, which is really hard since

when Greg was in Idaho we could write, send packages,

get texts from members of pictures of him right that moment.

Things with Colin will be much different. Angola has NO 

postal service. UPS, FedEX, and DSL are iffy at best!

So e-mail once a week it will be. He also can only call home

on Christmas & Mother's Day. SO HARD!!!! 

Lucky for us he can call from the airport on Monday, so

we are having a phone party for the last time until Christmas.

(Pause as I hold my tears.....)

This is the paper chain we made as a family. One link gets to 

come off each Sunday at Family Dinner. There are way

too many links in that chain for me to handle right now!

This is Colin & his ADORABLE girlfriend Tori! We just

love her to pieces! She and I are bonding and keeping

each other sane through this process! We have kept

ourselves busy sending him care packages & stuff,

but now that we can't we'll have to really keep our

chins up! (Sorry Tor- I ♥ this pic!!!)

We try to spend our time laughing, talking about Colin,

 and spending lots of time at all the local fro-yo joints! ;)

So that's the deal... Wow, only broke down once!

It's hard, but I know he is where he wants to be

so I rely on that to get us through! BUT, I'd be 

lying if I told you that I didn't know that it's exactly

22 months and 5 days until he comes home! ;)

BON VOYAGE COLIN!!!!

I love you BUCKETS full!

XOXOXO

Lil' update...

Well, I have no idea how many people even read this thing but every once in a while I get someone asking if I still blog. I do, I guess- just life gets in the way and I don't do it often! So here is a quick re-cap of some of the things that have been happening in our lives lately...

Christmas was great & we got Montgomery family pictures taken for the first time in like 12 years!

Colin got his mission call and leaves May 9th, just kidding (they moved it up!) APRIL 18th!!
He is going to Maputo, Mozambique in Africa. He is BEYOND excited as this is where he has wanted to go since Chelsea got home from her CFL trip in 2003.

Graham turned THREE on January 5th, and Claire turned ONE on January 8th! They are two of the cutest kids in the world & bring so much joy & love to our lives.

Graham loves: everything & anything guns, the iPhone!!!!!!, the movie Kung fu Panda, telling you anything new he's learned about, playing hide & seek, pre-school, and playing buzz-lightyear!

Claire loves: being a ham!, trying to pretend she can't walk yet ;), bouncing on the exercise ball with Auntie Eggy (my nickname as they can't say Meggy), singing herself to sleep, all kinds of food, her baby dolls, laughing, and climbing the stairs.

Christmas also found our family with another big surprise! Amanda & Tony gave us this:

An ornament that had me screaming (for joy) when I read it! They have an adorable pup named Ray, and this ornament for Christmas says "Merry Christmas Auntie & Uncle" "Tony, Amanda, Ray, Baby" I saw it instantly & totally flipped! It was a fun creative way to find out. SO, not only are we now planning for the baby due Aug 13th, but their wedding as well on Nov 9th....Whew! I got my work cut out as MOH!
Here's the first pic of their little peanut:

We are all SUPER excited for the first Brown grand baby- especially Alex! Congrats Tony & Amanda!

March will find Chelsea having #3 in their brood, it's going to be a wild ride. Graham & Claire will get to spend lots more time with me since school isn't so killer this semester & I'm pretty excited. :) We are all looking forward to the new Bawden BOY!

Mom & Dad are having their 30th wedding anniversary on Feb 13th! I am so excited for them! 

We had a tragedy in the Brown family this last week. Mike's brother, our Uncle Kevin passed away suddenly from a heart attack. He's the first member of the family to pass, and leaves only his daughter Kendra behind. It's been really tough on the family, and it was even worse that due to school obligations Jared & I were not able to travel to the Bay area to be with family for the services on Monday. We are all just somber over it, and trying to make sense of it all. Kevin was only 52, and though he'd had some health issues- no one could have imagined this happening. We've had an overwhelming response from family, friends, and the community & it's touching to see how loved "Cool Kev" is. RIP Uncle Kevin

As for us:

Jared & I have been trying to just stay healthy! We have been serial sickies since Christmas break & we are back to school and ready to be back to health! Jared's had the flu, I've had pneumonia, we've both had the coughs, sneezes, hacks, snots, what-have-you! (Sorry, TMI??) LOL

I am on my last semester before my program starts at GCU in the fall, and I am SUPER ready & excited for that! Jared is steadily working on his Bachelors in Chemistry and doing awesome! He's superman if you ask me, full-time job, full-time school, straight A's & still happy! :) Life is good.

And that folks, is THE update! HAve a good week!

I finally got to a few of the crafts...

Head over to MBM Designs & see the a bit of the stuff I
finally got around to posting!

Maybe some day I'll get the rest up! ;)

Crazy, busy, insane, chaotic, whirlwind MONTH!...

So I may have unintentionally lied...

I promised that I would blog more often.

I really meant to do it! However, this past month

has been crazy, busy, insane, chaotic, and a whirlwind!

We BOTH started full-time school, Jared's also

working full time. My sister-in-law got engaged, we

 went on a family vacation, finally moved out of Jared's

parents house (they rock- but it was time!), got into a

new house, sent my baby brother off to college, had

my jeep blow up on us, bought a new car, studied

our butts off for first tests this week, and any spare

moments have been filled with crafts/projects. Whew!

I tell you what, I'm ready to have time to really

decorate, and then have some DOWN time!

I am taking a REALLY hard & full load this

semester, so I don't exactly think I'll have much

of a break. So, I'll be here when I can.

I am excited for the next time I'll have some

time to really blog. I've been working on a bunch

of projects here & there on the house. CUTE things

to be shown soon! :) Happy week everyone!



We all grow up...

My little brothers...

(Colin & Greg)

We all grow up... Maybe not always acting as adults,

but adulthood happens just the same. The older I get

the more unwilling to accept this fact I become. I still

feel like I'm little. I also still feel like the big sister who

went to get Colin out of his crib every morning. Opening

his bedroom door seeing his little "fuzzy" head, and 

he's reaching out to me... Literally like it was yesterday.

(Colin blowing out his candles on his 17th B-day)

I don't know how old I'll have to get until I actually FEEL

like and adult (hopefully never!). BUT, this week I'm feeling

it a little more than usual. You see, Colin is going away to 

his first semester at college... in Utah. He chose to go to

BYU and it's a little crazy for me. I can't believe my baby

brother is going off to college. AND, we are extremely close

so I'm having a hard time with it. I knew when he graduated it

would only be a matter of time. But it's not any easier!

(Colin's last varsity football game)

He'll have a semester there and then come home

to prepare for his mission, where he'll leave for two

years! I'm not ready to face that yet!

(Me & Col June 2010- he's not so little anymore)

So while we face that separation, we are welcome a reunion.

Greg will be returning home from his mission on Sept. 22!

He's been gone for two whole years, and though we missed

him terribly... Looking back it went by in a flash!

I'm really hoping the same will happen with Colin. I'm sure

ready to have all of my family back together. I'm ready for 

times like these again...

(Greg & Colin comparing... bellies, lol)

 I'm in the middle of college, Colin's going away to

 college, Greg's coming home to start the rest of his life, 

Chelsea is married & prego with #3! Time keeps passing

and we just... keep growing up. 

(Us as kiddos 1995)

 We all grow up, whether we want to or not. I am sure 

going to miss everyone as along as we aren't all together.

 I guess that's how life goes. 

So for now, I'll just enjoy the time I have...

I'm off to go help Colin pack, and paint his room... 

(Here's to hoping I can hold the tears back!)

She said YES!...

This last weekend we traveled back to

our lovely San Diego for a fabulous event.

My beautiful sister-in-law Amanda got

engaged to her awesome boyfriend Tony.

Tony is in the Navy and had a re-enlistment

ceremony going on. He took this opportunity

to trick her into thinking it was a really

important occasion. We were all in on it, and

props to Tony, as it went off without a hitch!

(Tony signing his life to the NAVY for 6 more years)

He took time to thank us all for coming and

had her come to the front, she had no idea

it was coming until he reached in his pocket

and pulled out the ring! It was so awesome!

(The newly engaged couple)

(Jared & Amanda crying ☺)

We are all SO excited for them, and welcome

Tony with open arms. His family is wonderful.

CONGRATS BIG TONY & SCHMANDA!

(Her gorgeous ring!)

Then... We spent the weekend celebrating! LOL

(Margi anyone??)

Hopelessly AdDiCtEd...

www.pinterest.com

 I have a problem! I could spend about 

50 hours a day on this wonderfully amazing site. It's

basically a fabulous world of organizing and saving

picture files of anything and everything you have ever

seen on the internet. Did you like that lamp you saw 

on so-&-so's blog?... Pin it! That picture of Bora Bora

on your favorite travel site?... Pin it! That cupcake pic

from food network that looked like heaven?... Pin it!

If you feeling like checking it out, I am giving you

this warning, and don't take it lightly: 

You WILL become addicted, and I am in NO WAY to 

be held responsible for your new life of unproductiveness 

and endless hours spent on your computer! 

(PS- they have a phone app too... ahhhh! I know!)

Now...

Don't bother me! I'm pinning!!!!!