She DID get into BYU-Provo!!!

So, it's official. Lauren DID get into BYU-Provo for Fall/Winter 2014-2015. We are all very excited!

Congratulations Lauren!

Pancakes

Do you like pancakes? If you do I thought I'd show you what we live through so that you can have maple syrup with those. This is what it's like living in a deciduous hardwood forest; the kind that sugar maple trees grow in. (You'll have to click on the image to get the full effect.)

In a few weeks we’ll start to see the temperature swings that make the maple sap run. After that, green explodes all over the place. We will then mow and prune the "green" for months until we have to rake it up in the fall. But not before it turns to this.

For now though, enjoy your pancakes and maple syrup!

BYU - Provo, Here She Comes, Maybe!!!

Lauren got home from school today and got a tweet from a friend saying that she'd been accepted to BYU-Provo.  At this point Lauren still hadn't heard from either BYU-Idaho or BYU-Provo.  So she tweeted her friend to say congratulations.  Her friend told her that she should go to the website and log-in.  And if you enlarge this photo you can read the words "Addmitted Undergraduate".  Right at that point our good friend called to tell Lauren to go look as well.  She got to hear Lauren's screams of excitement.  At that point Lauren went to the BYU directory and found her name there along with Jared's and a couple of other Brooksbys.  The funny this is that shortly after taking this picture she got a text from her friend saying that her page went back to saying Non-matriculated.  And Lauren checked hers, and it now says the same thing.  So we think she's been accepted, but won't know until we get some kind of official notification.  Back to waiting!

Happy New Year!!!

We invited Evan, Suzanne and family along with 

our friends the Maughans over for New Year's Eve. 

We had great finger food, played games, and had a great time!

Lauren and Emma doing their thing while waiting for the ball to drop.

Look at that cute girl.  Stacy was making sure she stayed in 

touch with all her friends to wish them a Happy New Year!

What night would be complete without video games.  

All the boys were getting into it.

Justin and Bennett!

Bennett with Erin!  Elsie went to bed at her regular time, 

so she's not in any of these pictures.

Erin and Justin!

Jared toasting the New Year!

Lauren doing the same!

Craig, Scott, Sharon and James Maughan

Robb, Bradley, Suzanne, Evan, Emma, and Stacy Brooksby

Glen, Michelle, Lauren, Erin & Justin Wilson, and Jared Brooksby

The Saratoga Children's Museum

We took Elsie and Bennett to the Saratoga Children's Museum while Jared, Justin and Glen stayed home and installed vent fans in both upstairs bathrooms. I'm pretty sure we had more fun!

Elsie wasn't too keen on the museum at first.
There were a lot of kids there, and it was kind of noisy. 

They had a fire engine that the kids could play in,
and clothing for them to put on.  

Bennett was loving being a fireman.

This was a huge bubble ring.  

If you pulled it very slowly you could
raise a bubble wall all around you. 

Bennett had fun dressing up like a
construction worker and building things!

Lauren snapped a photo of me.

There was a play diner with a counter and booths.  There was a kitchen with tons of food and pots and pans.  The kids both played there for a long time.  They were having a blast.  Bennett would come and ask what you wanted to order.  We tried to order food we could see that they had.

One time Erin asked for an apple -
and this is what Bennett gave her - a BIG apple (honeydew)!  

We laughed about that!

The Christmas Puzzle

Each Christmas for at least the last five years our family has worked on a puzzle.  Usually the puzzle has something to do with winter, but this year it didn't.  Lauren picked out one for us to work on and so we worked on one that was summery.  We finally finished it after Christmas.  

 Here's a picture of us after we completed it.
Even Bennett found a few places to put pieces.

 Erin, Jared, and Lauren picked it up like this
before we took it all apart. 

Back into the box until we work on it another year.
I have to say I was happy to have my table back!

New York State Museum

The day after Christmas we took Bennett
and Elsie to the NY State Museum. 

We had a lot of fun wandering around.

Elsie warmed up to Jared and thought it was great that he would carry her around.

Talk about two cute little munchkins!

OK, this is everyone but me. Isn't that how trips and vacations go. There's always one person missing.

Jared and Elsie.

They had some people there performing and they had instruments so the kids could play along.

There was also a FREE carousel that everyone could ride. 

 Elise wasn't sure she liked it, but Bennett loved it!