The Good Life

Hello everyone! We are well into the new school year. Ammon and Daniel are doing great! Ammon is in 10th grade and Daniel in 6th. They are both playing ice hockey. It's been great for their self-confidence. It's good exercise too. They are both improving their skills. No NHL but they are having fun. Ammon is still a goalie, and Daniel likes to play offense and defense. He's learning fast. Ammon actually has a practice before school on Wednesdays. He's up at 4 a.m. Daniel is on the Science Olympiad team at school. He wants to take everything apart now to see how it works:) In Ammon's Industrial Manufacturing class they took an ink pen apart and attached it to a pneumatic hose to make a super spitballer. They were shooting spitballs at each other. It's nice to know he's getting a quality education.

We have my house up for sale just to see if we can get rid of it. If not, we'll keep it for a rental. It will give Nick something else to keep him busy. I'm not interested in dealing with renters ever again or the messes left behind.

I have so many wonderful blessings. There are so many people struggling just to survive. I'm grateful my children have so many incredible opportunities. We are extremely fortunate. I hope you all are doing well. I'd love to hear from you.

Back in Arizona

We are back in Arizona...to stay. Nick and I have decided we're never moving again. We are starting to get things unpacked and livable. We got a new puppy. His name is Mr. Snoopy. He is 6 months and 3 pounds. He is sitting on Nick's desk. He follows Nick everywhere.

Daniel started baseball and Ammon starts hockey tomorrow.

I'm excited about painting the house. I'll try to keep posts regular now that we're here.

Daniel's Braces

Daniel, unlike Ammon, is just beginning his whole mouth metal experience. His mouth was so sore for a few days. It's always so sad when your babies are hungry and hurt too much to eat. The hunger eventually outweighs the pain and they find ways to eat. Daniel is adjusting. Keeping them clean is going to be the biggest challenge.

No Braces!

Ammon got his braces off last week! He is so excited. He is smiling and showing off his teeth for the first time ever. I would have posted a picture sooner, but we had to wait for the zit to go away:) Anyways, they put a permanent retainer behind the top and bottom front teeth. He wears a full mouth retainer at night.

Gingerbread Houses

As is tradition in the Browning family, we decorated gingerbread houses yesterday. I baked 6 of them the day before and had them cut out and ready to go. We (Nick, Ammon, Daniel and I) went over to Nick's brother's house and introduced some of Nick's family to our tradition. It was a big hit. My mother-in-law (Mary Ann) got in on it too. She had never made a gingerbread house before. She gave it to a good friend of hers. They had never had a gingerbread house before, so lots of happiness was going around. Daniel is giving his to his teacher. Ammon gave his to grandma. It's starting to feel like Christmas!!! Enjoy the holidays...

Snow in Austin!

Hey Family! We had quite the storm the other night with thunder and lightning and wind gust over 30mph. We woke up to find snow on the ground. I know those of you in PA aren't impressed, but we were pretty excited. The boys were scraping the snow and ice off the car. I was glad it didn't affect the roads.

We're doing gingerbread houses this weekend. I'll post pictures. Hope everyone isn't going crazy. Enjoy all the Christmas cheer!

Daniel

Daniel has been busy too. He is going trick-or-treating with some friends. Ammon's going to the varsity football game with some friends, so Nick and I will be passing out candy all alone. I can't believe they are so big. Where has the time gone?


Daniel went on a three day campout with his 5th grade class. They were on one the lakes. It's been 3 weeks and he's still telling stories about all the cool things they did. This is Daniel with Mrs. Jamail, his 5th grade teacher at the camp.



Daniel also officially got his scuba certification this summer. He went through with a class of 6 adults I was teaching. He did great. He was ready for our trip to Cozumel. The scuba diving off the shore of Hawaii helped a little too. Jumping off of a boat in the middle of "big water" is a whole lot different (mentally) than shore diving. He was very brave. He got his fear under control very quickly and was really able to enjoy the beautiful reef life Cozumel has all the way to 70 feet! He is a fish. His nick name with all the divers is "Nemo."